


M'kay?

by INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon



Series: Any Way the Wind Blows [4]
Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Ancient Virgin, Anxiety, Bets & Wagers, Emotionally Repressed, First Kiss, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Flirting, Gaming, Heavy Petting, Loss of Virginity, M/M, Overstimulation, Pining, Sweet/Hot, Tenderness, Trust, Vulnerability, Wing Kink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:54:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23822653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon/pseuds/INeedMoreHadesBeforeISwoon
Summary: An alternate reality / ending to Episode 108 : Breakups and BirthdaysWhat was really going on when Thanatos came to Hermes' house that day...?THE SS THANAMES IS SETTING SAIL RIGHT THE HELL NOW!!!!!
Relationships: Hermes/Thanatos (Lore Olympus)
Series: Any Way the Wind Blows [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590340
Comments: 55
Kudos: 125
Collections: The Fleet of Hermes x Thanatos for Lore Olympus





	1. Play the Game

**Author's Note:**

> Per my usual, this work will be longass and will deal regularly with the following themes:
> 
> Anxiety and similar mental health and emotional states  
> Toxic current/former relationships and the dynamics of breaking away from them  
> God-level power dynamics that (sometimes) spill over into the bedroom  
> Ancient beings dealing with a world that has rather moved on from their realm of experience
> 
> I. Waited. Three. Weeks. To. Get. This. Posted.
> 
> I am not sorry. I have always been the captain of the SS Thanames....
> 
> As always, Lore Olympus is the intellectual property of Rachel Smythe her own glorious self, and this is a work of fanfic exploring plot and themes both within and outside of the Lore Olympus canon. 
> 
> (And since I'm still waiting for Rachel to let my bois kiss in canon, I was too thirsty to let this episode just pass me by....)
> 
> Welcome aboard the Thanames, little ones!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My gratitude to rissaleigh49 for her thoughts and support in getting this work started. My dear, you're da behst First Mate the SS Thanames could have!

_Dammit._

_Dammit…._

_DAMMIT!_

_Of all the inconsiderate requests, she **had** to make this one!_

_Why couldn’t she just obsess about some other … anybody!?!_

_Why the one that puts me in this position…?_

_…. I need to be done with her…._

He knocked on the door, the light-colored wood sending the summons thudding dully away into the stone walls. He tried to shift his bag a little more squarely onto his shoulder, but a pair of dragonflies decided that was the perfect moment to make a bombing run for his ear. In the aftermath of the aerial raid, his bag was on the ground, the door was open, and the young-ish purple godling was glaring at him with an air of elitist condescension.

_If you only fucking knew who I was, bastard, where I come from: you would not dare be so arrogant…._

“Hermes, the poor man’s version of you is here!!!”

_…._

_That shouldn’t hurt; it’s not their fault they didn’t die in some blaze of glory. There’s honor in a quiet death…._

_Why should I let him get to me…? He’s nothing but a pathetic social climber; hells and stars, he doesn’t even have a place of his own, he’s mooching from…._

The crimson messenger was barging forward then, shoving the purple idiot aside with reckless abandon, the show of force coming off as innocently unintentional even though it was obviously carefully calculated for the effect.

Thanatos noticed, and hoped things would work out so he could be done with … all of this, and he could finally – _finally_ – see if he was right….

_Would he give us a chance…?_

_…._

_Please give me a chance…._

“Come in. Come in! We can play games until our fingers bleed!”

_So young; such a lively god to be an escort of the dead…._

Thanatos cringed on the threshold, his guts squirming around his spine as he bent to retrieve his bag from the concrete.

_…._

_This is wrong; he doesn’t want me…._

_You’re an idiot, Thanatos, an ancient stupid idiot…._

_Lock it down; do the job._

He followed the beautiful vermilion god into the bright and airy den, his heart shriveling as the apathy returned in force.

_That’s what I get for trying to feel again…._

_It hurts too much to feel…._

_It always hurts too much…._

* * *

They’d been playing for a little more than an hour, and Thanatos knew it was a mistake. His emotional barriers were barely doing the job today: every time Hermes bounced on the couch in excitement at another win, every little grunt and whispered taunt in the heat of battle, even the leather-and-maple smell of his cologne tugged and twisted Than’s heart in knots.

_How did I let her get her claws so deep in me…? It’s not like we’ve even slept together, but…._

_She makes me feel like I owe her, like I can’t say no…._

_…._

_All she said was I had to ask Hermes about Persephone. She seemed awfully distracted…._

_This could be my chance. Ask, and maybe he’ll give me a flat answer that will close this whole thing up tight._

_And then I could be done with her. I could tell her enough is enough, that I’m done digging a grave for a goddess barely even two decades old just because Minthe fucked shit up bad with my boss…._

_…._

_But hells and stars, I don’t want to be alone again…._

“Yay! I win again!” 

Thanatos set his face in the careful lines of his “boredom” mask, refusing to look at the bright-eyed and beaming smile he knew Hermes was tossing his way. 

“Man, you need to step it up, It’s almost like you’re not trying!”

_Oh, sweet thing, you have no **idea** how hard I’m trying…._

Oblivious to the pale god’s internal upheaval, Hermes offered another round yet again, and Thanatos gritted his teeth as he agreed.

_Now or never; one way or the other, this shit ends today._

“Hey…. Would you say you know Persephone well?” Thanatos averted his eyes, allowing Hermes’ in-game avatar the blow needed to fully charge his mega-move. 

Hermes took the advantage while he responded, his excitement palpable in the air as he was well on his way to another glorious victory. “Yeah. She’s a bit of an odd duck, but she’s still a sweet lady.”

_…. Oh hell, he’s in love with her, too? What is with all of these gods and nymphs, so obsessed with one little pink goddess?!?!_

Thanatos pushed on, needing to finish this entire situation, even as Hermes pushed his controller’s keys and proceeded to kick Than’s avatar’s ass yet again with style. “I didn’t realize her name used to be ‘Kore’. That’s a very extreme name change, wouldn’t you say?”

_Not that it really matters to me; all the younger gods get new names so regularly, it really doesn’t matter at all. Just call them what they want to be called, and leave it at that._

“Haha, yeah, I guess. I can’t say I’ve thought much about it.”

_…. That’s a lie. Why is he lying…?_

_Forget it, Than; just do the job._

The round recap and scores lit up the screen, and Thanatos pretended to check his stats as he proceeded with his prepared spiel. “I do find something odd, though. There isn’t any documentation to back up a reason for that name change either. I did a soul audit recently.” He peered from the corner of his eye at Hermes: the god was hunched forward, his hands tight on the controller, his jaw clenched. 

_Gods, you’re beautiful; what I wouldn’t give to smooth that frown away from your brow…._

_Focus, you old idiot…._

“I noticed there was a large intake of souls from the mortal realm shortly before Persephone moved to Olympus. But the records are missing - ”

“Hey, Thanatos.” 

_Oh gods…._

_Say my name like that again, please…._

Hermes rose from the couch, hand on his hip, power poised and primed for control, and Thanatos could only stare as Hermes lunged, pinning him with nothing but his presence and his sepulchral voice, a voice that Thanatos knew he’d never forget: darkness, shadows, primal notes calling to every unacknowledged piece of his lonely heart with the songs of ancient dreams….

“A word to the wise. Don’t fuck with things you shouldn’t be fucking with.”

Hermes’ finger pointed squarely at his heart, and then that hand laid commandingly-soft over the middle of his chest. 

_Gods, he’s gonna know how much I want him; slow down, heart! Fucking hell!_

The predatory look fell from Hermes’ face, his eyes wide-open once more, excited and pleasant and far too beautiful for even a god, and Thanatos couldn’t help but smile as his body betrayed him, hormones flooding his brain with light. 

“M’kay?”

And Thanatos could only nod….

_Anything you say, beautiful thing…._

Hermes leaned away, rising from the couch fluidly, gracefully, power and force still apparent in every line of his body. “Want some snacks…?” The question floated through the air as Hermes moved past Thanatos’ frozen form, heading for somewhere else in the house, leaving Than more sure than ever that he had to try….

_You bet I want a snack…._

* * *

Thanatos took the glass of cola from Hermes as the ochre-bright god came back into the living room ten minutes later, his other arm loaded down with bags of chips, a bowl of popcorn, and the other glass of soda. 

_…. Now or never, old man…._

“Hey, Hermes?”

“Wazzup, Than?” Hermes was busy arranging the snacks on the coffee table, and Thanatos had trouble ignoring the way that put one cute, black-clad ass almost right in his face.

“You, um, you hear the mortals have a new superstition about us psychopomps?”

“Oh?! Do tell what the silly mortals are up to now!”

Thanatos smiled at the brightness of Hermes’ face, nearly glowing against the darkening backdrop of Olympian evening sky beyond the window wall. Thanatos placed his glass on the coffee table. “They’re saying that when Death comes to claim a soul, if you challenge him to a game, and win, you get your final wish granted.”

Hermes grabbed hold of his ribs, wrapping himself tightly as he turned a literal somersault in the air over the couch cushion, hooting with laughter. “Oh, those crazy little things! Whatever will they think of next?!”

“I wondered….” _Come on, man, you can do this…!_ “I wondered if you might like to try a bet….”

“A bet, sure!”

 _Breathe, Thanatos, and don’t think about how good he smells!_ “Another round of that game, and whoever wins gets whatever they want from the other…. We’re both psychopomps, after all, both Death for the mortals….”

Hermes grinned, foxy and charming and mischievous beyond compare. “You’re on, but I’ve already whupped ya a half-hundred times over. I’m gonna have to think about what I want for my prize….”

“Mark?”

“Set…?”

The pre-battle music flared to life, and Thanatos immediately began throwing moves at his opponent’s avatar. 

“Shit!” 

He chuckled as Hermes hunched over his controller, panting as he fought to decipher Than’s combinations, to strategize in the sudden onslaught to his character’s digitized person. 

“Just because I was distracted doesn’t mean I don’t know how to play, Hermes….”

“Fuckin’ _HELL!_ ”

Thanatos laughed as his avatar placed a booted foot on the chest of the fallen champion. The end-of-round screen blinked over the scene, and Thanatos turned, slowly, hesitant again now that the moment was upon him.

Hermes was smiling, seemingly unperturbed to have been thrashed so soundly, unconcerned about having to fulfill his debt. “Well? Whatcha want from me, Than? Lemme pay up, and then I want another round! I kinda like this, and I think I can beatcha again!”

_Now or never…._

“I just want this, Hermes….” 

Thanatos stood, took the few steps down the length of the couch, and sat back down with his knee brushing against Hermes’. The beautiful crimson god’s hazel-bright eyes followed him as he leaned close, but then he saw nothing as his own eyes closed when their lips met in the fading light.

_Please don’t hate me…. You don’t have to love me, but please, don’t hate me…._

He held himself there, not sure what he was waiting for, his lips warm against Hermes’ too-still mouth….

_Nothing…. I’m waiting for nothing…._

He pulled away, turning his face to the Chi-box logo screensaver bouncing over the television’s wide expanse. His fingers drifted up to brush carefully over his lips, the warmth fading into memory as he barely managed a shaky breath.

“That’s…. That’s all I wanted, Hermes….”

Thanatos got to his feet, his shins like lead beneath knees like noodles; he trembled his way to where his bag was flopped over the arm of the couch, snagging it up by the shoulder strap as he fought to keep the tears behind his eyes, the lump buried in his chest where his heart used to be.

_I knew he didn’t want me…._

“Thanatos, hang on; I wanted to play another round, remember?”

He turned slowly back around; the innocent expression on Hermes’ face could have meant anything. It was as if the kiss had never happened….

_Either he’s playing me for a fool, or…._

_Or he’s playing my game…._

“Okay….” 

He dropped his bag to the floor, taking up the white-coated controller once more. Hermes adjusted himself on the couch, hunched and primed for battle once more, staring at the screen. 

“M’kay, Than, here we go….”

The game began again, and without the element of surprise, and with something he desperately wanted to claim from this battle, Thanatos thought he’d never tried harder to push buttons and think four and five moves ahead. He’d never been excellent at chess, but he called up every mental reserve, every iota of strategy and scheme, and he thought there’d be an opening if he just tried this, then that, and - 

Hermes _slid_ across the couch, stopping a few inches from Than’s right side, and the wafted breeze of his sudden move sent that incredible cologne brushing through the air and straight to Than’s fluttering heart.

“Shit!”

“Hah!” 

Hermes finished him off with a carefully hoarded flame-thrower shot, and Than stared panting at the screen.

_Fuuuuck; he’s playing the game alright!_

“Now, hmmmm, lemme see….”

_Shit-shit-shit, that **voice** …!_

“I think I want….”

_Anything, anything at all, take it from me…._

Thanatos shivered violently as Hermes’ teeth nipped softly at his neck above the collar of his shirt and the lapels of his suit-coat. Fingers were picking buttons apart from his sternum to his belt, his coat pulled down from his shoulders as those teeth, those lips, that warm breath and gently prodding tongue traced down and up and around, finally stopping with a steady-sucking kiss on the corner of his jaw. 

Thanatos mewled when Hermes pulled away, settling to the couch beside him again with a throaty chuckle. “Play again…?”

“You’re evil, boy….”

Strong fingers wrapped around the left side of his chin, forcing him to turn toward his tormentor. He melted under the sheer dominance of Hermes’ intently focused gaze.

“You. Started. This….”

Than’s heart stopped beating as Hermes leaned toward him; his mouth drifted open, and he nearly collapsed or combusted or _something_ when Hermes released his chin and turned back to the television.

“You…. Y-y-you fuckin’ tease!”

“Are you gonna play for your prize, or not, God of Death…?”

“.... M’kay, boy….”

“M’kay, then….”

The _Play Another Round_ button flashed, taunting and challenging with all the implications the evening had suddenly taken on. As the victor from the prior round, Hermes waited….

Thanatos selected the confirmation, the music trumpeted out, and the battle commenced once more. 

Everything on the line….

His heart at stake….

And this time, he wouldn’t fail….

_He’s mine, he’s gonna be mine, he’s - what the fuck!?!_

Thanatos lost his grip on the controller as his hands shot to grip the edges of the couch cushions….

Hermes’ left leg was thrown over his knees, and his thigh was so dangerously, tantalizingly, achingly close to Thanatos’ desperately throbbing cock.

He whined, staring at Hermes’ incredible musculature, not even truly camouflaged beneath the jet-night of his slacks, and Hermes ended the game with another blast of digital flame. 

One hazel eye, bright under unruly wavy locks of flame-bright hair, peeked at him as those warm-soft lips quirked into a triumphant smirk.

“I win, again…. Whatever should I choose for my prize this time…?”

Hermes drifted into the air, twisting and settling himself on Thanatos’ lap; the God of Peaceful Deaths groaned as he felt the younger god’s need, hard and hot against his own through the layers of fabric separating their bodies. Wide-palmed vermilion hands captured his cheeks, and Thanatos could have done nothing else but drown when Hermes finally leaned over him, pinning him, claiming his mouth with a slow, consuming kiss….

_He wants me…._

Thanatos lost himself in the kiss, the taste of cola searing his tongue as Hermes stole his breath, his heart, his soul. He couldn’t stop his hips from rising in a slow rhythm, instinctive and needful as drifting into sleep; he moaned as his own trapped erection shifted against Hermes’ bulge, the guttural sound shifting to a whine as Hermes ground down against him after a few tentative pushes.

Hermes nipped his lower lip as he pulled back, and Than stared as Hermes licked _his_ lips, as if he could savor the taste of the kiss that much more. Hermes chuckled at Than’s obviously wrecked face; Than could feel how swollen his mouth was becoming, but it didn’t matter.

Nothing could matter but whatever _more_ Hermes would give to him this evening.

And then it hit him, a fuck-ton of insecurities and simply unknown factors crashing over his heart like a mason’s cart full of bricks.

_…. What more is there, though…?!_

“Hey, Than, where’d you go…? Hmmmm?”

Than snapped out of his frantic spiral of confusion, throwing the walls back up, the mask falling into place on his face. “Nothing, Hermes; did you claim your prize?”

“Oh no, you don’t! You were being so sweet, and now you’re back to being a jerky-jerkface?! What the hell!?!?” Hermes grabbed Than’s chin between his thumb and forefinger, keeping Thanatos from looking away, preventing him from hiding his face. “You started this; if you don’t want to keep going, that’s fine, but don’t play it off as if this means nothing to you, ‘cause I can tell it means a whole fuckin’ lot! Don’t lie to me, Angel….”

_…. No, don’t fuckin’ cry…._

“I…. I don’t know what else….”

“Whaddaya mean, Thanatos?”

“ _I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING, HERMES!”_

Than wheezed, the air barely making it past the bobbing lump of anxiety in his throat and into his starving lungs in his too-tight chest. Hermes slowly released his chin, his fingertip trailing down Than’s convulsing throat and finally drifting to a stop at his collarbone. 

“.... Angel, you’re saying you’re a virgin…?”

_Yes, sure, laugh it up already, the God of Death is a virgin yet and still, it’s fuckin’ hilarious…._

But Hermes wasn’t laughing; there was a softness in his gaze as he searched Than’s eyes, a softness that cradled Than’s breaking heart, kept it from completely splitting into jagged shards of shame and embarrassment. 

“Yeah….”

“Well, for being a virgin, you’re a damned good kisser!” Hermes winked, and just like that, Than was smiling again, chuckling even as Hermes played with the half-undone collar of Thanatos’ shirt.

“Heh, thanks, I guess….”

“No guessing; I’ve kissed a lot of folks, guys, girls, in-betweens and neither-nor’s…. You’re talented, ya stud…!” Than ducked his chin, blushing hotly; Hermes followed him, peeking at him on a too-canted angle, watching the blush flare over his cheeks. “Holy wow; you turn an even brighter blue! That’s so pretty!”

“Stop, Hermes!” Than giggled, actually giggled, as the younger psychopomp chased the fear from his heart with his own particular brand of caring-sweet and silly-sappy humor. “Yeah, okay, I’m pretty experienced with kissing; but that’s all I’ve done, and I do…. I want…. But I just don’t know how, and I’m … s-scared I won’t be any, you know… any good….”

“Everybody has a first time some time; if you want me to be yours, I’d be happy to show ya what you’ve been missing out on!”

Than met Hermes’ brilliant hazel eyes once more, a smile stealing over his lips at the confident, tender enthusiasm the messenger was sending to him in his open gaze.

“.... Yes, please….”

“Awesome….”

Hermes leaned forward again, his hands melting around the back of Than’s neck, and gods, was Than ever grateful for the return to familiar ground. He gave as well as he got this time, chasing Hermes’ tongue and nipping at his lips, sucking hard enough to concave Hermes’ cheeks at times and pushing his tongue in looping swipes that left no space in that hot crimson mouth unexplored. 

When deft fingers began dancing up from the nape of his neck to the back of his skull, though, he snatched his head away, his shoulder-blades smashing into the back of the couch as his own hands came up to capture Hermes’ wandering appendages. 

“No…. Leave it up.”

“Why, though!? Won’t be very comfortable if I lay you down, and it looks so soft, I wanna touch it!”

“No; I…. I look better with it up.”

Hermes _pouted_ , and Thanatos knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the next plea that left that wine-red kiss-bruised mouth.

“.... I bet you’ll be beautiful with it down….”

“ _Mmmmph…._ ”

 _I was right…._

He lowered his hands, closing his eyes and granting permission for the vermilion deity to do as he pleased with his gathered strands of silver-white hair. Hermes unwound the ribbon binding Than’s locks into a bun, and the staticky-crackling weight fell onto his shoulders, around his ears, over the back of his crumpled collar….

“I told you, I look better with it - ”

“Than, hush!” And of course, Thanatos obeyed; he couldn’t resist when Hermes commanded him so fiercely, so hungrily…. “Than, you have no idea how handsome you are! Gods, I mean, come on, sure I like the bun, but fuck, Angel, if you’d grow out the bottom layers, and let the whole thing lengthen…. Damn, you’d look like a fuckin’ king!”

….

Obedience only went so far….

“Hermes, it makes my ears look crazy huge to have it down! I look like a monkey!”

“Only because you’ve got the underlayers shaved, my dude! Trust me! If you grew it out, all over…. Fuck, it’d be so thick we’d have to dig through your hair to find your ears! Like snow drifts!”

Hermes bounced on his lap, sparks firing off in Than’s brain from the pressure the motion shot through his cock, and he felt himself giving up control to Hermes’ enthused insistence.

“Shit, fine, whatever you say, just stop bouncing, I’m gonna fuckin’ come!”

The two of them panted, letting the sensations fade to a more manageable level, and then Hermes started petting over Than’s hair. “Leave it down for me, Angel…? It’s so pretty, gods, I think I could jerk off just to the sight of your hair….”

Than laughed, leaning forward, burying his face in Hermes’ chest. “Sure, applesauce, anything you say…!” He froze when Hermes did. “Oh, fuck, that’s a terrible nickname, I’m sorry…!”

Hermes squeezed him so hard he swore one of his ribs would be cracked, squealing as he responded: “No apology needed, I love it!”

And then they were kissing again, and Hermes’ hands were seemingly everywhere on his body, opening buttons and pulling away his shirt, unzipping slacks and gripping his cock through the fabric in a squeezing caress. Thanatos broke from the kiss, his head falling back to the couch cushion with a gasp, his hips shuddering up into the air as Hermes flew backward off his lap. 

“Mmmm, gonna be a pretty cock, I just know it; you’re so gorgeous everywhere else, this is gonna be the best yet….” Hermes wasn’t quite mumbling, but Than could have sworn before a tribunal of the highest judges in the realms that the messenger was nearly humming as he stripped Than’s pants and boxers off in one fluid motion. “Oh, fuck; I was wrong. It’s not a pretty cock: it’s _stunning…_.” 

Than peeled his head from the leather behind his neck, trying to look down at Hermes and figure out why the younger god was being so vulgar, but his eyes met Hermes’ as those wine-red lips wrapped around his dick in slick warmth and velvet softness.

“ _HOLY SHIT, HERMES!”_

Hermes was definitely humming now, and Thanatos felt his hands fly from the cushion by his hips, his fingers snarling in Hermes’ already mussy hair, giving him an anchor as the god tried to suck the life out of him through his dick.

In some distant part of his pleasure-assaulted brain, he knew Hermes really wasn’t being rough, or harsh, or doing too much; it was just that everything was so fresh and new, and he’d been waiting for this for much longer than just the strained-tense afternoon….

He’d been waiting his whole, millenniums-long life for the pleasure Hermes was coaxing, beckoning, commanding from his flesh, and there was nothing he could do but beg for more with wordless whining cries and harsh fingers pulling that warmth and wetness down harder, deeper, _more_ onto his throbbing cock.

He screamed when Hermes pushed a little deeper, the rippling muscles at the back of the crimson messenger’s mouth utterly unexpected and more than welcome to Than’s desperation.

He exploded, fiery warmth and lightning sparks racing over his entire body as his shaft spasmed, his muscles clenching behind his groin and deeper still as the climax savaged him. Even his fingertips were trembling as he held Hermes’ head on his cock, long seconds of barely-fading pleasure forcing grunts from his throat. 

He finally relaxed all at once, falling limp into the white leather couch cushions, a sheen of sweat cooling rapidly on his skin and forcing him to wince as the upholstery clung to his flesh. Hermes’ jaw relaxed, Than’s softening cock slipping from the cradling surface of that bold red tongue; Than wasn’t even sure when Hermes had wrapped his fingers around Than’s cock, but he was grateful he had. His dick was terribly sensitive when Hermes laid it along his thigh, and then the vermilion beauty was clambering carefully onto the couch beside him. 

“There ya go, Thanatos; one kind of pleasure…. Want to feel some more with me…?”

“.... M’kay….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hooooooobuddy
> 
> No. We're not done....
> 
> It doesn't usually take me four separate writing sessions to get a work of this length done. This one did. 
> 
> Between going panel by panel to actually set up the whole scene from Than's perspective, to the slow-build of the challenge, to the emotional uncertainty of Than finally being on the edge of getting what he's wanted for months....
> 
> And then Hermes just.... 
> 
> That boi knows how hott he is, and he ain't afraid to show it....
> 
> This is not the only Thanames fic out there. The first official fic on this site that was specifically Thanames is Work Ethic by Stefani Dafnis. I followed up with Look Angel! Snow! But the first mentions of Thanames were my own, in Titans Reborn and Shadows and Truths, and I delved deeper into Thanames in Night's Darkness series.
> 
> I'm going a bit of a different route with this rendition. While Thanatos is still a virgin (as I had him in Night's Darkness and Snow) - he's a little more confident. Not by much, but it's there. He's a little more desperate, too, because of the position Minthe is putting him in. 
> 
> We're not done dealing with the Min-Than situation, but trust me when I say Than. Is. Done. With. Her. Shit....
> 
> The next chapter of M'kay will be.... yes, you know what it is....
> 
> Than. Is. Getting. Fucked....
> 
> It's been a long 3 weeks waiting for this episode to go public so I could raise the Thanames flag high amidships once again. I look forward to seeing you all around!


	2. Claim the Prize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Within:
> 
> Discussion of manipulative behaviors in "relationships" (in the context of Minthe using Than to "get-at" Persephone)  
> Slight dom/sub dynamics (mostly top/bottom energies, but could be considered D/S, too)  
> Mega-sudden orgasm  
> Themes of consent  
> Hints of aftercare (more to develop in later chapters)  
> Strange-form Intimacy (WING KINK, WING KINK, WING KINK!)
> 
> This installment picks up literal seconds after the previous chapter. 
> 
> Many thanks go to Rissaleigh49 for her continued, stalwart, loyal service as the First Mate of the SS Thanames (read that as "beta" and "Thanames-stan second only to myself and my co-captain, DutchBunny").
> 
> Happy Hump-Day!
> 
> Soft disclaimer: Swoonie writes hot-smanging smut. Please take proper precautions when you prepare to read this fic. Have water. Maybe a fan. And be prepared for *looks* if you choose to read in a public locale....

Hermes held Thanatos, tiny kisses marking the pale god’s jaw and neck as he panted through the fading high of pleasure. The crimson god was humming softly, intermittently, no tune or melody but happiness in the lilting tones that vibrated through Than’s skin and straight to his very bones.

“My word, applesauce, I – ” _holy shit, I need air_ “ – I never knew anything could feel that good….”

“Heh, well, that is why sex is a whole damn thing, Angel-honey….”

Words failed him once again; it was so hard to think through the swirling waves of sensation Hermes’ gentle lips and strong arms coaxed from his flesh. It was more than obvious that Hermes was as experienced as his earlier words had implied, and Thanatos felt deeply grateful for that, thought he might be ready for….

“Hey, um, Hermes…?”

“Yeah, Angel?”

“Um, what’s next…?”

Hermes laughed, rising from the couch fluidly enough that a siren on the hunt would have been envious of his effortless grace. “Well, that depends. You wanna top or bottom, stud?” Vermilion hands fiddled with the still-clasped belt-buckle of the messenger’s slacks, and Thanatos felt his mouth go dry even as his brain raced for the meaning of the question so he could at least attempt to respond.

“Um, I, um, I’m not sure, I don’t….”

“You need me to explain?”

“No, I…. Look, I’m not an idiot, I know the general how-so’s and where-fore’s, I just…. I don’t know what _feels_ best, like, how to… give, ya know?”

“Yeah, I hear ya. If it’s okay with you, I’ll take good care of ya this evening. I’ll handle everything, and you can just enjoy….”

Thanatos nodded, his loosened half-damp hair shifting over his ears in ways he was far from accustomed to these days. “Yes, please, if that’s, um, if-if that’s what you want….”

“I asked, didn’t I!?”

“Well, yes, but – ”

Whatever Than had intended to say was forgotten as Hermes finally whipped his belt from his slacks, tossing it behind the couch with a circus-man’s flair, and dropped his pants and underwear in a flash.

_Gods, fuckin’ gorgeous, holy shit!_

Hermes’ cock was as crimson as the rest of him, pulsing softly with every beat of Hermes’ heart; it wasn’t quite _thick_ , perhaps even a little thinner than Than’s own, but the length seemed… _quite_ delicious. Those thighs were as well-muscled as they’d felt when Hermes straddled the God of Death’s lap before, and faint trails of darker-burgundy freckles danced over the apple-red skin. Thanatos didn’t bother looking any lower; his heart began to race, his own cock stirring once again, somehow softly-painful and oddly-pleasurable as he panted more heavily in the quiet of Hermes’ living room.

“Gimme a couple minutes, Angel; I gotta go get some stuff before we can do anything else.”

“Um, wait, were we…. I mean, right here?!”

Hermes spun back around, stripping his shirt over his head with artfully crossed lean-and-bulging arms before tossing that behind the couch, too. “Sure, why not?”

“What about, um, your… house-mate…?”

“Oh, no, dude, I sent him out earlier when I went to the kitchen! I had a hunch, ya know: your heart was beating awful fast earlier….” Hermes winked and left the den, pert and bare ass swaying tauntingly as he hummed some more tuneless happiness.

“Fucking. Hell….”

Thanatos let his head drop back to the cushions behind him, his right hand splaying over the trembling muscles of his abdomen as he replayed the images of Hermes’ lips around his cock, hazel eyes smiling so close before his face as they kissed, wine-freckled crimson skin taut over muscles in all the right places….

_He wants me, and he’ll take care of me…._

_I am_ **_so_ ** _done with Minthe’s shit! This, this is mine, he wants me and he’ll be mine for a while…._

The doubts tried to creep back in again, but Than pushed them away with squint-closed eyes and a hard swallow to clear his dry mouth.

It was no secret to anyone who had been around Hermes for more than a few months that the messenger… _got around_. He’d even said so himself, just this afternoon. Than knew he was fighting a losing battle against the younger god’s own nature by wishing Hermes would stay with him, singly and solely, for long….

_As much as I would love him to be mine only forever…. As happy as that would make me…._

_I like him for who he is, all of him: and that includes the flightiness that is his very nature. He’s so alive, so much life…._

_I’ll take whatever he can give me, for as long as he can, and at least I won’t be alone for a while…._

“Hey, Angel…?”

Thanatos raised his head, his fingers clenching involuntarily over his stomach as he took in the sight of Hermes’ lean and muscular body framed in the hall doorway. A cream-and-salmon towel was slung over Hermes’ shoulder, and a small canister of what had to be lube was rolling back and forth between Hermes’ hands.

“What’s wrong, applesauce?”

“Um, I just realized, well, remembered…. You’re seeing Minthe, aren’t you…?”

 _Shit._ “Not…. Not exactly, not anymore. She kinda broke it off with me, but not enough that she could keep from asking me to pull some shit….”

“…. Cause, I mean, open relationships and all, they’re built on trust, and I wouldn’t wanna mess things up for her and you….”

“Oh, sweet thing, no, we haven’t even kissed in a couple weeks…. She just…. I hate to admit it, but she’s been using me, and I’ve been letting her, but I wanna be done. You actually gave me the pieces I needed to completely break _everything_ off today….”

“Howzatnow?!”

Than chuckled, hoping he wasn’t digging his heart a lonely grave as he gave up the truth. “It was Minthe sent me asking around about Persephone’s past. She told me to ask you; I guess she noticed you both were friendly, and there’s the whole mortal realm connection. I asked, you answered me flat, and I can shoot her a message and tell her I hit a dead end, and that I’m done. You gave me what I needed….”

“…. Oh! Um, so, you’re not, you know, still using me for dirt on Perse, are you? ‘Cause, man, that shit don’t fly….” The sepulchral tones of Hermes’ dominating voice were back in force, and Thanatos shivered; he knew Hermes saw the motion twist through his body.

“No, I’m done digging. Whatever happened is between her and the boss, in the end; I’ll let them figure it out…. I shouldn’t have felt I owed Minthe anything, but I did…. I’ve been kinda ready for weeks now to end things, but…. Fuck it, Hermes, she’s the only person I’ve ever had anything with, and even if it wasn’t the healthiest, at least I wasn’t alone! I didn’t want to be alone, and I wanted you to catch me, and….”

_Oh hell…. Way to be a desperate, vulnerable mess, Thanatos, way to go…._

“…. I’ll catch ya, Angel….” Hermes closed the distance between the hall and the couch with ground-eating strides, dropping the canister and towel to the side-table as his ass hit the leather. He pulled Thanatos into a wrap-armed hug, and Than sighed on a breath as that leather-and-maple scent swamped his mind once more.

“Fuck, Hermes….” Thanatos knew he was on the edge of tearing up again, but his emotional walls were gone, crumbled entirely to rubble by the comfort he had only hoped to find in the one he had wished and dreamed and pined over for months….

“Not quite yet, Angel, but soon….” It took a moment for the quip to register in Than’s mind, but when it did, he smothered his laughter against Hermes’ bare chest. “Damn, Than, I kinda love your laugh, so sweet and silly….”

“Hush, you….” He tilted his head back, matching the motion with his hands to capture Hermes’ thick hair and hold the messenger still as he kissed him. Thanatos lost himself in the kiss, in Hermes’ hands on his back, his waist, in his own breath mingling with the heat from his lover’s mouth, in the soft-spiraling _need_ beginning to make itself known low in his gut and behind his cock.

He went willingly when Hermes turned him bodily around, the crimson being putting him on his hands and knees facing the window wall: not that he was even admiring the view of the carefully-tended hedges and azalea bushes, because Hermes was kissing a line of passion down his spine, and strong fingers were following a parallel path down either side of his ribs.

“Mmmmm, Angel: your skin is so fuckin’ soft…. I could touch you all day….”

“All night, please…?”

Hermes chuckled into the small of Than’s back, soft pulses of air stealing what little wits those dancing-clawing fingers had left him. “Well, we’ll have to see how much you can take, Angel. It is your first time, after all. We should go easy….”

More kisses then, and a carefully prodding tongue, continuing down the line of his spine, past his hips and toward his –

_“Wait!”_

Everything stopped: tongue, lips, hands, humming, everything, and Than blushed too-bright-blue as he dropped his face toward the couch cushions.

“What is it, Than?”

 _At least he sounds calm, still, he’s not mad…._ “I…. I don’t know if I’m clean enough for that….”

“Oh, hey, no worries! Smell fine back here, and I don’t see much of anything….”

“Um…. I just…. I don’t know….”

“Okay, hey, another time, then. Lemme just get the stuff here, and I’ll get ya settled with my fingers; that sound okay?”

“Um, yeah. I’m sorry, applesauce….”

“Don’t be! We’ll only do whatever you feel safe about, okay? You can say _whoa-nelly_ anytime, I promise I’ll listen.”

Than giggled as Hermes’ fingers kneaded and massaged his ass, the pressure soothing and relaxing him as Hermes’ words comforted him. “Thanks, applesauce…. I didn’t mean to freak out.”

“You’re allowed a freak-out if ya need it, Angel. Thanks for trusting me with your body….”

Thanatos melted as that simple-honest statement cradled his heart; he soared in his soul on the feeling as one of Hermes’ hands abandoned its post on his ass and disappeared for a few heartbeats. The hand that remained continued pressing and grinding with strong fingertips, keeping Than’s attention and stirring a steadily-increasing need inside his pelvis. 

When Hermes brought his other hand back to Than’s skin, he was pleasantly surprised that the slickness coating Hermes’ fingers was warm, not cool. He leaned back into the pleasant sensation as Hermes stroked one slippery finger down the valley between his cheeks. Than hummed this time, and Hermes chuckled.

“Feel good, Angel?”

“Mmmmm, yes, I like it….”

“Good; just enjoy….” Hermes’ finger played up and down, long strokes and softly-teasing circles and spirals sending tingles of warmth up Than’s spine. Than continued shifting back and forth on his hands and knees, a few inches at a time, unable to keep still as the need inside him grew hungrier. 

He gasped when, all of a sudden, Hermes’ finger entered him. Hermes gripped Than’s ass-cheek a little harder, then, stopping the pale god’s movements, and Than’s breath shivered out of him on a sigh as the new sensation of penetration took over his perceptions: a pulsing not-quite-burn that matched his own heartbeat, a _stretch_ of something holding his entrance open but wasn’t moving in or out, a tingle that seemed to almost tickle as nerves he didn’t know he had reacted to the novelty. 

“How ya doing, Angel…?”

Than licked his lips, his mouth somehow dry even though he was on the edge of drooling freely. “Um, good, I…. Fuck, I like that….”

“Excellent. Let me do most of the moving for a minute, okay? Let you get a feel for this. You tell me if anything actually hurts, you’ll know the difference; but I’m gonna do my best to take care of you….”

“M’kay….”

Hermes’ finger slipped out a touch before sliding back in again, the gentle swells and valleys of his knuckles marking the depth as Hermes began working him open. Thanatos was breathing slowly but heavily as his worries receded further, as the pleasure swamped his mind with a delightful haze of hormones. 

“You’re doing so well, Thanatos, so nice and relaxed already….”

“Mmmmph, feels _good_ , applesauce, want more….”

Hermes laughed, the whole couch vibrating as Hermes bent over and rubbed his nose across the lower edges of Than’s shoulder-blades. “Damn, stud, you’re definitely gonna get as much as you want! But we gotta go slow; a little more work, but fuck, it’s worth it. Just hang on another few minutes, and I’ll give ya _more_ ….”

Thanatos hummed, starting to shift back and forth again; if his lover wouldn’t give him more, he’d take it. The tingling and friction-sparking warmth pulsed over his body in ever-larger waves as he fucked himself deeper onto Hermes’ finger; the crimson god curled over Than’s back, letting the death-god’s shoulder-blades rub along his hardened nipples. When Hermes let out a soft groan of his own, Thanatos thought he’d never felt so happy: he’d given Hermes pleasure, too….

More kisses and gentle nibbles marked his back, dancing everywhere and anywhere, until Than slowed his swaying to a full stop, letting Hermes work him over to the messenger’s content. His arms were trembling slightly, and he was in the middle of contemplating lowering his chest to the slick leather of the couch when a second finger suddenly slipped inside him alongside the first. His elbows locked, his head flew back, and the wave of ecstasy that rebounded over his entire body sent a delighted cry from his wide-open mouth. 

“Holy shit, Than; you sure you’re a virgin? ‘S’like you were built for this, Angel….” Those two fingers push-pulled in and out of his body, and Thanatos made sounds he’d only ever heard griffin-cubs make in the mountains of his childhood: mewls and whimpers and keening purrs. He wanted to beg for more, but the pleasure shredded his words to mere noises of need alone.

A kiss of a smile pressed into the back of his neck, a few more trailing down over one of his trembling shoulders. “You’re beautiful, Angel, like this, taking pleasure, feeling nothing but… well, your butt….” Thanatos huffed once at his lover’s joke, but the jolt somehow tensed his ass. Hermes’ fingers stilled while Than struggled with trying to regain the involuntary relaxation he’d lost. “Easy, stud. Just breathe, you’ll get there…. There ya go….” Those deft-strong fingers continued their mission in his ass as he sighed once more, and Thanatos turned his head as much as he could, panted breaths beckoning Hermes over his shoulder.

They kissed, hungry and hot and full of passion, and somewhere in that haze of bliss, Hermes slipped a third finger past Than’s entrance. 

“ _Holy shit!”_ Thanatos’ arms gave out, sweat-slick skin shooting forward on the leather of the couch until his chest plowed into the cushion. He moaned as Hermes kept his fingers moving, wriggles and thrusts and gentle spreading motions driving Than further into bliss. The tides of his pleasure were swelling higher now, building and coming just-this-side of cresting until Thanatos thought he would go mad.

“ _Soooooo_ damn good, Angel; just a little more, and then I’ll fuck ya good and proper….”

 _“Yes, please, need it, want it, wan-want it…._ ”

Hermes chuckled deep in his throat, and another shiver squirmed its way up Than’s spine, eliciting a wriggle from him where he knelt prone before his lover. He reveled in the way his pleasure spiked as he moved; he needed _more_. He started flexing his hips up and down, realizing for the first time that his cock was harder, heavier, than he’d ever felt it. He’d been so consumed by the sensations from his ass, he hadn’t even felt himself grow so needful; his cock almost hurt as it shifted with his desperate swaying, but he didn’t think he had it in him to drag a hand down there to give himself any relief.

And gods forbid he mention it to Hermes, because then the vermilion deity might stop what he was doing inside Than’s body….

He floated between need and fulfillment and knew Hermes would take care of him soon; until then, he’d just enjoy as he’d been commanded.

All three of Hermes’ fingers moved away from each other inside Than’s ass, and Thanatos smiled as he felt his entrance give to the spreading pressure with barely any resistance. Hermes hummed again, delighted. “That’s it, stud, as good as it gets. Give me a second to lube up, and then we’ll see about making you feel even better. Fingers coming out in three, two….” 

Than could have cried when he was left empty, but more too-warm kisses on his spine and the tops of his ass-cheeks distracted him. He took a few deep breaths as he got his arms back under him, rising back to his hands and looking back over his shoulder. 

Hermes rose up a little more on his knees, giving Than as good a view as possible of that crimson cock disappearing and reappearing from between the ring of Hermes’ thumb and forefinger. The sight of shining skin and obviously-full hardness shot lightning through his veins in a single flashing burst of pleasure. His mouth fell open, and he knew he wanted to learn how to show Hermes the same ecstasy he’d found before in his lover’s mouth.

“Okay, Angel. You ready?”

“Yes, please, fuck me, please….”

“Well, since you ask so nicely…!” Hermes' drier hand resumed its position on his ass-cheek, his slicked hand guiding his shaft to Than’s entrance. There was only the slightest resistance before Than actively went a little limp, and then the tip was inside of him.

“Oh… my… _go-ods…!_ ”

Though Hermes’ three fingers, all together, had been just a little wider than the messenger’s cock, Than knew it was poor comparison:

There was something so _perfect_ about the warmth and roundness and hard-softness spreading him open, a feeling of completeness and wholeness in how he felt his body accommodating the intrusion, welcoming the penetration.

Hermes hesitated until Than shifted back slightly, another small slide of skin making its way into his core; the messenger couldn’t quite restrain a soft moan of his own as he started to press a little more forward.

“ _Wow_ , Angel; feels so good, so warm, so nice and tight….”

Than whined in agreement, his head hanging between his shoulders, his hair all around his face, his chest expanding and contracting as he drowned in sensation and pleasure and bliss.

Finally (not nearly soon enough), he felt Hermes curling over him, their thighs flush together, sticky and slick with sweat. Two strong arms wrapped around his chest, hard-poking nipples were stabbing into his shoulder-blades, and hot breath was washing intermittently over the back of his neck. 

“Mmmmm, Angel, shit…. I got the best prize - _huff_ \- anyone ever got - _sigh_ \- from a bet with Death….”

Thanatos turned his head, knowing Hermes would meet his lips once more. Nipping, sucking, licking: their kiss started slowly as Hermes began rocking his hips in a luscious rhythm, stoking an inferno deep inside Than’s pelvis with every motion. The waves of crashing warmth and shattering starbursts of tingling sparks were far too much for Than to make sense of in the moment, but he knew he’d remember this for the rest of his eternity.

They kissed slowly, they fucked passionately, and then they sped up.

Hermes leaned up and away when Than broke the kiss a few seconds into the new, faster, deeper rhythm, his hands dragging around Thanatos’ ribs and down his waist to take their positions on the shelf of Than’s hips. The slap of Hermes’ thighs and pelvis meeting his own body should have made him blush with the crudeness, but instead, all Than felt was happiness:

His lover was enjoying his body; what shame could there be in the sound of their passion?

Than only panted for a time, drifting blearily in the ecstasy of being fucked by a god who knew what he was about; his cock was swaying heavily beneath him, and it was sensitive enough now that he could _feel_ the precum flowing out of him in long strands of pleasure. His balls were drawn up tighter to his body than he could ever remember feeling them, and as his bliss-swamped mind focused there, the need to cum was suddenly unbearable.

_“Fuck, Hermes, please, my cock, I can’t, please!”_

“I got ya, stud….” Hermes nearly growled the words, and Thanatos nearly screamed with the pleasure as the hand Hermes had used to prep his ass and slick his own shaft wrapped around Than’s throbbing cock. 

_“Shi-it, I-I’m, fuck, Her-mes!_ ”

A brilliant flash of light strobed once behind Thanatos’ eyes as his groin clenched: it felt like every muscle inside his pelvis contracted, especially those farther back locking tight around Hermes’ cock in his ass as his own shaft twitched _hard_ , jumping in Hermes’ just-tight-enough grip as he exploded. The twinned pleasures of being penetrated and cumming in a warm-strong hand ripped his mind between them, and his control over the carefully-maintained magic binding his wings to a nether-dimension snapped.

His wings blasted into reality, and the sudden increase in sensation from the air washing along every filament and quill sent him up onto his knees. He screamed, his hips thrusting forward into that warm-stroking hand and drawing back onto the spreading-hot shaft spearing his core as he arched against Hermes behind him. He dimly heard his lover moaning, grunting, broken whispers that sounded like _Sorry_ tumbling from Hermes’ lips as a melting warmth and trickling pressure filled him deep inside.

It seemed like eons passed while Thanatos was caught in the grip of unequaled pleasure, aftershocks rebounding from his pulsing cock to his spasming ass to his slowly-beating wings. Twitching slightly, he bent when Hermes leaned forward, his right wing draping up the back of the couch as his left drifted toward the floor. He barely caught himself on his hands as Hermes’ fingers released his cock; he may not have been all there, but he knew the couch was a damned mess, and he really didn’t fancy laying down in it.

“Shit, Than; fuck, I’m sorry, I should have asked if I could cum inside you…. Damn, sorry, forgive me…?”

_Oh…. That’s what the “sorry” was for…?_

“Nothing… to… forgive….” Hermes chuckled breathlessly, and Than responded in kind. 

“Sweet Angel…. My Angel…. I’m pulling out, just stay there and I’ll get things wiped down….”

“M’kay….”

This time, when he was left empty, there was still a slowly-fading warmth, evidence of how well he’d pleased his lover, how good he’d made Hermes feel….

Thanatos knew he’d want to feel that again, soon….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woof....
> 
> Once again, I needed multiple sessions to get this put together.... Too hot - hot damn.... 
> 
> Okay, so.... I promise, there's plot a-coming. While this whole entire idea for this fic STARTED as an excuse to craft another deck on the SS Thanames, it has actually evolved into something more (as my shit always do, why am I even surprised?).
> 
> The next chapter will begin the official plot-lines, and there's a bit of a surprise in store for you lovelies. Just hold on tight....
> 
> Regarding this scene - I took inspiration from a few different sources: Mr Racy's blog was once again helpful, as was Cosmopolitan, of all things. More anonymous sources must remain anonymous, but believe me when I say I had a couple handfuls of sources for Than's first anal penetration and the sensations that engendered in my poor wee ancient virgin.
> 
> Okay. I'm gettin' a lil hot-n-bothered again, hang on....
> 
> Not-quite-side note:
> 
> I feel I should provide advance warning here, and I will remind y'all in the front notes of the next chapter, as well:
> 
> There will be a couple of scenes in the next chapter that will include rather homophobic dialogue from a loathsome character. I shouldn't have to explain myself this way, but - 
> 
> It's fiction. Any dialogue and thematics that are rather hate-based are NOT my own personal beliefs; such instances are written to illustrate the loath-ability of the character(s) that speak them only. 
> 
> Anyhoo....
> 
> As always, constructive commentaries are appreciated. For now, I am leaving comment moderation in place, and I maintain my silence in the comment threads. I am still dealing with various life upheavals and am not quite ready to put myself back out there yet. But ever and on, I love the love, my dears.
> 
> One final note, and rather tangential at that:
> 
> I've actually begun writing two - yes, TWO! - novels, non LO-fic but still Hades/Persephone stories. Both are available on Wattpad at this time. If you would be interested in the links to those, please find me on Discord and touch base in my DMs. I use the same handle there to avoid confusion. 
> 
> Okay. I think we're good with all that. 
> 
> Happy Hump-day, dears, and enjoy the night!
> 
> -Swoonie and the Ancients and Muses in her headspace  
> 6 May 2020


	3. Come Home With Me...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning:
> 
> Within is a scene including homophobic and biphobic dialogue, including blatant slurs.  
> (As I have stated previously, these dialogue points do not represent my own beliefs, and are merely included to increase the villain quotient of the character who says them.)  
> This scene is marked with line-breaks, and a small note is included after the scene to allow readers to continue from that point. 
> 
> Additionally, the final scene sets up a crossover. Further information will be provided in end-notes.
> 
> Many thanks, as ever and always, to my First Mate and beta-feesh Rissa, for her support and thoughts in not only the structure of these scenes but also how they come across on the reader’s side of the screen.

Thanatos snuggled closer into Hermes’ embrace, reveling in the way the messenger  _ pulled _ him a tad closer, biceps bulging around Than’s ribcage. He hummed, and Hermes chuckled.

“Welp, stud, ya got fucked….”

“Mmmmhmmmm…. Was really good, applesauce….”

Hermes nuzzled against Than’s temple, his nose pressing and bumping over that sensitive space, his lips trailing tickling kisses over the farthest edges of Than’s cheekbone. “For me, too, Angel; been a while since I was with anyone that responsive, that sensitive…. And I don’t think that’s just because you were a virgin, I think you’re just really damn sensitive, and anybody’d be lucky to have you in bed, and that makes me damned lucky, and…. Well, in bed, on a couch, you know what I mean…!” 

They laughed together, and Than tucked his face against Hermes’ pectorals. As the humor faded, that same blissful haze that he’d been floating in for nearly a half-hour now washed over him again, and he and Hermes sighed in tandem.

Which spawned another fit of giggles….

When they finally managed to breathe again after that, Hermes straightened a little on the couch. Than grumbled a little, and Hermes patted his waist, palm slapping lightly on the pale god’s skin, soothing and not-quite-chastising him. “Now, Angel, I’m not leaving; just gonna reach my draaaank….” Hermes leaned, stretched, fingers barely managing to capture the glass from the coffee table, and it was only then that Thanatos realized they hadn’t even made  _ any _ headway on the snacks before they got so terribly (wonderfully) distracted. 

“Mmmm, sounds good, where’d mine go…?”

“Here, just share mine, it’s the same damn cola!”

Than smiled as Hermes pressed the cup to his lips, taking a small swallow as he drowned in smirking hazel eyes. Hermes’ fingers stippled back and forth on Than’s waist, walking nowhere but sending little sparks everywhere, and the death-god relaxed back into his lover’s side with another sigh as Hermes started drinking steadily from the condensation-covered glass.

The ice clinked melodically as Hermes lowered the dregs to the arm of the couch before turning a smile on Thanatos where he lay at ease beside the messenger. “Well, stud, what’s next, hmm? I mean, I kinda find myself wantin’ to spend the rest of the night with ya…. Ya wanna stay here with me?”

Than straightened slowly, peeling himself from Hermes’ skin, his wings catching oddly on the leather cushions behind his shoulders and ass.  _ Oh, dear…. _ “Um, I’d love to, applesauce, but…. I’d have to be up at the ass-crack of not-yet-dawn to head home….”

“Why?!”

“Well, um…. It’s…. It’s a little, um, a little-little embarrassing…. I…. My shirt, I won’t be able to wear my shirt that I brought with me….”

“.... Come again, why the hell not?!”

Than wasn’t sure, but he thought Hermes was more curious than outraged. Thanatos hoped he wasn’t reading his lover wrong. “My wings…. You did fuck me real good, Hermes, too good. I haven’t lost control like that… ever? I can’t seem to make my wings cooperate, and that shirt was one of my wingless-wears….”

“HUH! Well, that’s something, ain’t it! I…. I guess I just, I mean, I’ve never been with a wing-ed god, but I just assumed the wings were, ya know, power, magic, just for show, not actual…. Unless?”

“No, no, you’re right, as far as I know. Most of the younger gods that have wings, um, theirs are more, well, power-made-flesh, kind of…. But I was born with mine: I can sort of, um, sort of, well….”

Hermes leaned toward him, stopping his stammer with a tender look and batted eyelashes. “Easy, stud, no shame here. So, they’re actual wings, for you, and you can, like, shift ‘em elsewhere, but that obviously takes concentration, right?”

“Heh, yeah…. So, yeah, my shirt, I really don’t fancy a sewing bee tonight, so, I’d need to go back home anyway, and then I’d be wore out, so…. Unless, I mean…. Maybe, um, maybe you want, um, wanna come home with me tonight…?”

A brilliant smile took over Hermes’ features, and he nearly crashed into Than as he lunged over the short distance and strong-armed him into another hug. “Sure, Angel! I’ve never spent the night in the Underworld before, that sounds like a GREAT plan!”

Thanatos arched his back, shoving against Hermes’ chest as his wings twitched and shuddered. “Hermes, ow, off, off, please!”

“ _ OOPS! _ ” The crimson god let him go, and Than shivered as the tingling sparks raced their way along his nerves. He panted for a few seconds before he could answer the puppy-dog look in those hazel eyes.

“I’m okay, applesauce…. Um, I’ll let ya make it up to me, um, later, at home….”

“Yeah…?” A devilish wink, and Than knew he’d made the right call. “Well, what am I waiting for then…?!”

Hermes sprang into the air, snagging a bag of chips as he flew past the low table. Thanatos laughed aloud to see the naked god kicking his feet as if he was swimming through the air, his hair coasting every which way in the breeze he made. Thanatos shrugged his shoulders to settle his wings as he slipped from the couch and knelt to the floor, reaching as best he could under the dark recesses beneath the kickboard to locate his missing trousers and pants. 

He’d retrieved and set aside his socks and shoes, as well as his boxers, and was grumbling under his breath about the largest piece of his wardrobe eluding him in this miniscule space when suddenly a hand smacked his bare ass. He yelped, tweaking his shoulder as he lurched up from the floor, spinning around as his wings flared in a defensive stance, making him seem utterly massive in this slowly-dimming room. 

Hermes eyed him possessively for a long moment, tip to toes and everywhere in between, before biting his lower lip and giving a soft sigh. “Couldn’t resist, Angel…. Such a pretty ass….”

Than forced his wings to fold back to some semblance of decorum and put his hands on his hips instead. “Scared the fuck outta me, Hermes, honestly. And did you do something with my damn trousers?!?!”

“You mean your pants…?” 

The crimson god pulled his now-thoroughly wrinkled slacks from behind his back, shaking them in the air at his side. Thanatos stalked over, snatching the dangling fabric from his lover’s grip.

“Trousers. Pants are what go inside.”

“How old-fashioned…!”

“You have no idea, boy….”

“You’re right! Just how old are ya, lover-boy mine?” Hermes was piling the various snack food containers into his cradling left arm, but the curiosity was evident in his tone. Thanatos knew the messenger would accept a dodge, for now, but was genuinely interested in learning more about Than as a person.

Than decided to take the chance. “Um, I’m, uh, my birthday’s this winter, and I’ll be, um, buh-be three-thousand seven-hundred and forty-one.”

Hermes straightened abruptly, the bag of pretzels spilling in a reverse-forming cascade of crunchy-baked knots and twists. “Holy…! Um, I…. I didn’t realize you were older than the boss, Angel….”

“.... Yeah. Neither he nor I like to be reminded of that, but…. Well, his role only exists because mine existed first, but mine was incomplete before he came along and gave me a place to guide the mortal shades to…. We work well together, or used to…. I…. I’ve kinda fucked that up in recent years, I’m starting to see that….”

Hermes nodded, wise and sage and intent on Than’s hesitant abasement. “Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learned being the Messenger Between the Gods, it’s that no matter the insult, words and actions will set it right in time….”

Thanatos chuckled, sitting back down on the towel now laid along the couch as he started to pull on his pants and trousers. “Messenger  _ To _ the Gods, Hermes; you’re such a silly thing, honestly….”

“No, no. I think I know who I am!” Hermes headed, still naked, back to the kitchen with his armload of snacks, leaving the spilled pretzels behind for the moment. His voice rang out around the doorways as he disappeared, and Than found himself moving more slowly so as not to miss a word. “See, if I was doing things  _ to _ the gods, it’d be something from me for them. But, no, see, I deliver stuff  _ from _ this god  _ to _ that one, or whathaveya, and that makes me the Messenger  _ Between _ the Gods, Angel.” Hermes re-entered the living room, a broom and dustpan in hand.  _ And he’s still naked, how on earth am I supposed to even think?!?! _ “See, I’m not ancient, no sir, but I’ve been at this long enough I think I have a unique perspective on some things. See, I can always tell when someone’s needing to say something but they just don’t know how, and it’s something of a talent, and one I take a lot of pride in, that I can kinda… set them up to take those steps. Like, see, you, Angel. You  _ finally _ took me up on my offer to come over and hang, and even if you had other, ya know, motives, or Minthe did through ya but that’s beside the point…. Wha’I’m tryna say, Thanatos, is you came here  _ wanting _ , and I had been waiting for you to make a move, but see, I was missing the bit about you being a virgin, but once I had that, I knew whatcha needed, and I’m rambling, sorry, wanna hold this dustpan for me…?”

Than stared at Hermes for a few heartbeats before scrambling down off the couch and kneeling to hold the shallow tray. Hermes swept the pretzel pieces into it, and Thanatos got carefully to his feet with the tray in hand. 

“Between the Gods, huh…? Kinda makes you a bit of a therapist, you talk about it like that….”

“Well, hobby psychoanalyst maybe….”

They laughed again as they started walking together toward the doorway into the hall. Than tried to memorize the few turns between the living room and their eventual destination in the kitchen, but the sight of Hermes’ hips swaying so close to touch was far too distracting.

And when Hermes spun around and pulled Than closer after he finished tumping the dustpan’s load into the garbage bin, Thanatos forgot the route entirely: all that mattered was lips and tongue and - 

_ He fuckin’ nibbled some of the pretzels when he brougth the bag in here, damn him, salty-sweet…. _

Hermes’ hands rubbing along his lower back, carefully avoiding his wings now, and Than was deeply grateful for that. He knew  _ that _ discussion was going to be awkward and he had no desire to get into it before they were back at his apartment with his tools close at hand. 

“Thanatos, Angel dear, you look real sexy in your pants and nothing up top but your wings….”

“.... Trousers, applesauce, they’re trousers, and if you’re coming home with me, you should get dressed or they won’t let you over the border….”

They chuckled through another kiss and Hermes finally pulled away, a grinding squeeze to Than’s ass shocking the pale god yet again. “Fine. Go get your stuff together and wait for me outside. I gotta lock up and set the alarms and pack my bag, and I can’t, I just fuckin’ can’t, if you’re standing around looking like  _ that _ ….”

“You’re a mess, Hermes.”

“You, too, Angel, and a hot one at that.”

“.... Um, how, um…. How do I get back to the living room…?”

Hermes laughed loudly, taking Than’s hand and tugging him at a trot down the hall, left-right-right-left, before darting away through the air and zooming up the staircase to a landing Than hadn’t noticed earlier in the evening. Thanatos chuckled and hummed his way through packing his bag, tucking his shirt in next to the notebooks and folders he’d brought for no good reason, after the way everything had turned out.

_ I’ll talk to Minthe in person tomorrow. I won’t make this break official over a text. I don’t owe her anything, but…. _

_ I want to be better than she made me…. _

_ I can be better. Hermes won’t let me slip up.  _

_ I can work harder; I can be more friendly…. I can start with Persephone. She never needs to know I was digging, she definitely doesn’t need to know I invaded her privacy…. _

_ But maybe I should tell her that…. _

_ Later. Much later…. If ever. _

_ Just make a better impression starting tomorrow.  _

Than walked out of the front door, closing it quietly behind him; his bag’s strap was digging into his bare shoulder slightly, and his shoes were only half-tied, distracted as he’d been with his thoughts, but there was still a light-cloud-haze feeling in his stomach and a beaming glow around his heart that shone like wonderful-and-wonder-filled hazel eyes….

_ I want to hold onto this happiness, for as long as he’ll share it with me…. _

_ I’ll be a better man, a better god, for being with him…. _

_ I’ll…. _

Thanatos drifted to a stop just past the hedges bordering the front wall, staring at the purple god leaning against the gleaming golden hot-rod’s front door on the drive. Apollo raised a hand from his crossed elbows, beckoning Than closer with a crooked finger. 

The godling’s face was carefully blank, and Thanatos couldn’t see an easy way to avoid the arrogant Olympian. 

_ I’ve seen him, to pretend I haven’t would be a blatant insult.  _

_ But what the hells and stars does he even want?! _

Thanatos approached slowly, cautiously, every instinct in his body crawling under his skin like ants on sun-scorched ground, aimless and frantic. He was painfully aware of his shirtless, wings-out, rumpled-and-hair-down appearance.

“Hey, so, heard ya asking about Persephone earlier, digging for info…? You still need some more dirt, I could maybe see my way to helping you out….”

_ …. What the shit…? _

“No, that was a mistake. I’m not digging anymore, so no, and I’d appreciate if you also gave up whatever ill intent you have toward her. I truly don’t think it’s worth it….”

Apollo eyed him up and down, and Than cringed a little under the taller god’s scrutiny: it felt dirty, nothing at all like the way Hermes had elevator-eyed him just minutes before….

**_Triggering scene begins here_ **

* * *

* * *

“Well, you are a little whipped dog, aren’t you, ya pillow-biting whore…?” Thanatos staggered back, the words as painful as a physical blow. He mouthed the air, trying to find enough to retort with all the territorial defensiveness that was his right in this moment, but the violet-dark godling pressed his advantage, sensing weakness. “Yeah, damn, I thought I was going to puke watching that gods-awful display. I mean, hell, I know Hermes doesn’t get it, he’s a bit loose in the goose, if you feel me, but you…? Come on, you’re better than that; you’re supposed to be some ancient primordial-spawn, right? Honestly, it’s shameful is what it is, that you’d bend the fuck over and….”

_ No, no it’s not, it was beautiful, Hermes was kind, and he knows what he’s doing, we’re not messed up, we’re not! _

“You shut your mouth, Apollo. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh hell, man, come on, don’t feed me that old line. Guys fuck girls, that’s it. Anything else is just plain unnatural. Girls can fuck girls, that’s hot, but dicks go in pussies, not asses, honestly, everybody knows that….”

“Shut up, Apollo!”

“And you’re with, oh, that dumb cunt river nymph, right? You really think she’ll take you back after you’ve had a dick up your ass? What woman would ever want you after you’ve stooped so low…?”

Than’s wings folded around his body, poor protection from the audible lances of every fear that had nipped him in the long nights leading to this wonderful (terrible) evening….

“Apollo!” Hermes was suddenly there, hazel eyes peering into his own, a fire deep behind their softness. “Than, easy, just breathe, okay…?”

“ _ M’kay….” _ He wasn’t sure there was any sound behind the word, but the way Hermes nodded told him it must have been enough.

Hermes turned around, and Than could have sworn that mussy head of hair was made of literal flame against the evening sky. “Apollo, you damned rat bastard. How dare you talk to anyone like that, much less my boyfriend?! I can’t believe I let you move in with me; if I’d known the hateful kinda jerk you are, I’d never - ”

“Hermes, come on, man, you know a josh when you hear one!”

“ _ You’re damned right I know a joke, and that wasn’t a joke, you sick fuck!” _

“Oh, I’m the sick fuck?! After what I saw you two fags doing on our damned couch?!?!”

* * *

* * *

[[[Quick summary for those who did not read prior scene:    
Apollo insulted both Than and Hermes,    
and Hermes is now defending Thanatos,   
who has kinda shut down….]]]

  
  


_ “I. Said. What. I. Said. Apollo. Now  _ **_gimme back my house key!_ ** I’ll call you with a time for you to come get your damn shit….”

Than watched from behind Hermes’ shoulder as Apollo’s eyes flashed a brittle bronze as the two gods squared off. A clink of metal on asphalt, and the violet sun-god spun on his heel and lurched into his car. Hermes wrapped his arm around Than’s hunched shoulders and walked him off the driveway, back onto the flagstone walk leading to the door.

The tires squealed too-loud behind them, and Than shivered as he realized Hermes might have saved both of their immortal lives….

“Than, Angel, you look at me, honey….”

_ Stop crying, stop it! _

“Than, none of what he said is true. You weren’t even gonna go back to Minthe anyway, so it doesn’t matter! And honestly, any woman who wouldn’t want you to feel good like you did with me isn’t worth your time. I’m so sorry I didn’t know the kinda jerk I was living with, and I’m so sorry I didn’t get out here sooner. You’re okay, Angel, can I hold you, I don’t wanna hurt your wings….” Than sniffled hard, opening his wings enough for Hermes to step into their embrace. “There we go, it’s okay, Angel; you cry, I’ve got you….”

Arms and wings wrapped tight around the messenger, pulling Hermes close and closer still as Than buried his face against Hermes’ shoulder. He  _ did _ cry, but not for long, the scene replaying in his mind until he realized….

“.... Hermes, you said….”

Hermes leaned back as much as he could while remaining trapped in the cage of Than’s overlapped wings behind his back. “I said a lotta things, Angel, whatcha stuck on…?”

“.... Boyfriend…?”

Hermes smiled, and the pain of Apollo’s hate-filled words burned to nothing in the light of happy hazel eyes. “Well, I mean, seems like ya need a crash course in all things relationship, so, why the hell not, lover-boy?!”

The tears this time were happiness, and he didn’t even bother to feel ashamed as he and Hermes kissed on the flagstone walkway in the fading light….

* * *

Apollo slams the shifter into  _ park _ before he wrenches the door-handle open. He doesn’t think he’s ever been so angry. How dare that little asshat treat him like this?!

He storms over the pavement, flings himself through the door, and is greeted immediately by a slender lavender finger in his face, shaking back and forth as if admonishing him.

“Apollo, not now, get out, something’s going on with Persephone, Hestia says she’s leaving the group! I’ll call you later…. Now, what, Hestia? No, no, she didn’t say anything to me, and she would have, I know she would have…! I just checked outside, she’s not here, she hasn’t been here all afternoon!” 

Artemis wanders down the hall, phone to her ear, hair tangled behind her shoulders, free arm wrapped around her ribs. Apollo creaks the door behind him, mimicking the sounds of his footsteps receding as his sister disappears around the corner and into the kitchen. 

He floats over the stairs to avoid making any noise that could give him away. 

Persephone’s duffel bag is easy enough to find on the floor of her closet. A few outfits easily snagged and stuffed, some socks and underwear; he doesn’t bother grabbing her books or notepads. She won’t need them….

He does take the few extra minutes to write the note with a black pen, something his sister always keeps around the house. 

_ Perse, _

_ Hestia called.  _ _  
_ _ I can’t have you staying here anymore  _ __  
_ with you no longer being a novitiate maiden.  _ _  
_ __ I’m sure Eros or Apollo will be able to help you. 

_ I’m sorry.  _

_ \- A _

On his way to the window, duffel in hand and note carefully folded in his pocket, he spots the dark, coal-colored jacket carefully laid over the end of the bed. The scent of the ancient King’s cologne is faint, but he curls his lip as he recognizes it.

He snatches the coat too, not caring that it wrinkles in his sweating fist. 

He floats off the balcony, angling away from the kitchen windows below as he glides down to the front walk. He places the bag on the mat, sticks the note to the door below the peep-hole with a small piece of his chewing gum, and flings the reeking coat on top of the bag with a grimace. 

_ There…. Now she’ll have nowhere to turn to, but me…. _

_ …. _

_ Eos always said I could come hang at her place. Yeah…. _

_ Little pink goddess will be mine by tomorrow night…. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep. That happened....
> 
> See, wha' ha' happened was....
> 
> Naw. Look. 
> 
> I became a fan of Rissa's [Any Way The Wind Blows series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590340) a couple months ago, after I became her friend through some of my fics and then Discord. Then, see, I started working on M'kay, and then I realized, based on the secrets I know about where Wind is going.... 
> 
> I realized we could work M'kay, and Wind, in the same universe and timeline. 
> 
> See, basically, Come Home With Me starts in the evening of Persephone's birthday. So does where I started M'kay, with Than coming to visit Hermes. 
> 
> Hermes kicks Apollo out. Apollo goes to bitch to his sister. She's just hearing about Persephone leaving TGOEM (see [the opening chapter of Come Home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22094398/chapters/52729324)). Persephone went for a walk to clear her head before heading home. Apollo sneaks upstairs, pulls his creepy shit, and voila, Persephone comes home while Artemis is still trying to figure out what to do about her friend. 
> 
> Regarding Eos - she hasn't been introduced yet, so, let's suspend some disbelief and say she's not a Titan for this placeholder function, she's just another goddess in charge of escorting Helios around....
> 
> But yeah! 
> 
> M'kay and Rissa's Wind series are now OFFICIALLY existing in the same universe and timeline! Hermes and Thanatos are together, Persephone is on her way to Hecate's after finding the forged note and her bag, and the next chapter of THIS fic picks up with Hermes and Than at Than's apartment for the night!
> 
> And may I just warn you all now...?
> 
> Wing. Kink.  
> So much wing kink.  
> Wings. Fluids. Feels.  
> Feathers....
> 
> Wingzzzzz....
> 
> Okay, I'm done. 
> 
> It's been a ride making sure all our bits and pieces lined up to make this happen.  
> We're excited to bring you a multi-leveled wonder of world-building and fun and feels....
> 
> Obviously, you should read Rissa's series when you get the chance; but you have a little time, because M'kay is definitely moving a little more slowly. 
> 
> As we go along, updated "alignments" of timeline will be provided. For now, M'kay 1, 2, and 3 all occur in the hours leading up to Come Home With Me chapter 1.
> 
> Voila....
> 
> Welcome to our headspace, dears.... Enjoy your stay, we've enjoyed setting the stage....


	4. Sensation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what's coming....
> 
> WING KINK WING KINK WING KINK
> 
> and because of that....
> 
> Mega fluids,   
> after some
> 
> Feels from mild insecurities,   
> and always with the
> 
> Sensory Hedonistic tendencies and descriptions
> 
> Many the thanks per the always to my swimmy little beta-feesh, Rissa, the first-mate on the S.S. Thanames.
> 
> Enjoyyyyyyy!

Thanatos landed on his apartment’s balcony and immediately folded his wings, giving Hermes room to touch down beside him. Than’s keys jingled in the silence, and he watched Hermes carefully from the corner of his eye as he unlocked the sliding door. The messenger was staring out over the city nightscape, seeming curious about the quiet. Thanatos was grateful it wasn’t drizzling rain for once: that would have utterly ruined his half-formed plans for this evening.

As it was, he was more than due for what he wanted from Hermes tonight….

“Applesauce, you okay over there?”

Hermes cocked his head, his hair falling thickly onto his shoulder; one strap of the cute kitty-faced backpack disappeared beneath the crimson waves. “Yeah, it’s just a huge-ass city, I expected there to be a lot more noise!” Than chuckled at his boyfriend’s hushed tone as he finally got the door unlatched.

_ …. Boyfriend…. _

“Yeah, even the Underworld sleeps at night….”

“Who’d’a thunk…?”

Hermes skipped into Than’s apartment and the pale god closed the door behind them. He could hear Hermes’ feet padding in his sandals through the main space, but Than kept his back to his boyfriend, pretending to check the lock even though it was perfectly fine. 

_ Please don’t think I’m boring…. _

“Angel, no TV?”

_ Fuck.  _ “No, no TV. I prefer my books, and if I’m gonna watch something, I can always pull it up on my phone or the computer.” He turned around and gestured to the tower and monitor on the desk against the wall. The bookshelf to the left of his computer was overflowing with leather-backed and paper-bound volumes, and Hermes flitted over to read some of the titles, even hovered up to peek at the ones on the upper shelves. 

Thanatos made his way as calmly as he could toward the doorway to his bedroom, trying to fight down the panic. The longer it took for Hermes to pronounce his opinion of Than’s space, the more certain the death-god became that his boyfriend would decide not to spend the night in such a boring, dark, dismal, quiet place….

“Ooooh, I like this one, so fun with the unicorns and dragons and all…. You like fantasy, Angel…?”

Than turned, pulling his bag from his shoulder and sheepishly nodding. “One of my brother’s kids got it for me a long time back, and I kinda fell in love with the world.”

“It’s a good one; so, your… niece?”

“No, nephew.”

“Ah.” Hermes put the paperback in its place and drifted through the air to land beside Thanatos. “Nervous, Angel? You seem nervous….”

_ Gulp.  _ “Yeah….”

“If you’ve had enough for one night, we can just go to sleep, or read, or just talk? We don’t have to do anything else sexy…. It’s been a helluva evening, what with….” Hermes’ face went hard, stony, as they both recalled hate-filled words and leering yellow eyes. “Whatever you need, Angel, that’s all. As your boyfriend, I wanna make sure you feel good, safe….”

Thanatos melted at Hermes’ quiet reminder of the new truth of his life. “Hermes, I…. There is something I’d like to, um… share….”

“Okay, tell me!”

Than grabbed Hermes’ hand and pulled the vermilion god after him, through the doorway and into his bedroom. He dropped his bag on the floor near his dresser and let go of Hermes’ fingers before darting into his bathroom. He grabbed the wire basket’s handles and careened back into the bedroom.

His heart was thundering through his chest in victory laps as Hermes’ hands drifted to a stop, his shirt half-unbuttoned and childishly-designed backpack flopped beside Than’s own canvas satchel.

“Remember I said, um, I said I’d let you, um, make up squishing my wings to me?”

“Yep….” Hermes began slowly, teasingly, unfastening the remaining buttons on his shirt, eyeing Than’s shirtless chest hungrily.

“Well, I usually take care of this myself, and it’s not exactly, um…. You said you’d never been with a winged god before, and I need…. Um….”  _ Come on, Thanatos, spit it out! No shame, he won’t hurt you like that! He’s sweet…. _ “I need to groom my wings every so often, and it feels… really  _ fuckin’ _ good, and I think I’d like to feel you do that for me so I can just… enjoy….”

Than shifted his weight from left to right and Hermes’ eyes latched onto the basket Thanatos was holding by his hip. “Toys?!”

Thanatos cackled, bending nearly double, his wings shivering over his ass and past his hips as he lost it. His free hand swiped tears from his eyes as he finally straightened up, Hermes was entirely shirtless now, and crimson fingers froze on his zipper as he realized he’d been caught. “Not toys, boy. Tools, ‘cause I can’t exactly reach everything myself and some things are just better with specific tools….”

“Sounds like toys to me, Angel….”

“You want to, though? It’s gonna be a little weird for you, probably, and I won’t be much help once you get sta-a-a….” Than’s voice left him on a breathless moan as Hermes finished undoing his trousers and shucked them off with a smirk.

“Than, honey, Angel dear…. I  _ really _ wanna play with your wings….”

“ _ Hrnck…. [gulp] … m’kay…. _ ”

“M’kay….” Hermes swaggered across the bedroom, trailing his fingers along the length of Than’s dresser-top until he was toe-to-toe with the death-god. Those teasing fingers danced their way up Than’s arm, along his shoulder, up the slope of his neck and behind his ear before twining through Than’s hair and drawing his face toward the messenger for a kiss. Than nearly dropped his basket of tools (toys), but he managed to hold onto it as Hermes’ other arm snaked around his waist and pulled the two of them together from chest to thigh. Thanatos whimpered as his cock throbbed, eager at the feeling of Hermes’ own hardened need playfully teased back and forth, up and down, as they lost themselves in their passionate kiss. 

Hermes finally seemed ready to move on, biting Than’s lip and pulling slightly, which tore a desperate groan from Than’s chest. The crimson god stepped back slightly, pale hair drifting through his loosened fingers like snow, and his left hand trailed down Than’s trembling arm to take the basket from him. “You should take your own trousers off, Angel, and then tell me what all these toys are for, hmmmm?”

Thanatos kicked off his shoes and began scrambling to strip. He flared his wings for balance as his too-eager motions got his feet tangled in the cotton-blend, and he caught himself on the doorframe with a clawed-tight hand as he finally got free. “Well, see, hang-on-a-minnit!” He darted back into the bathroom, nearly sprinting once he had a towel in hand back into the bedroom. He snapped the towel through the air to unfold it to a single doubled-over state and began to spread it into place on his sheets as he started talking Hermes through the items in his basket. 

“Well, first, you probably won’t need that long one with the knob on the end; your hands will do a much better job around the base of my wings, and that’s first, gotta get the oil flowing good; but then, that one with what looks like a gauntlet-brace on the end? That one you use to spread the oil up the long-bones, and then the others are brushes to pull it all down the feathers: the smaller ones for the sections near my back, the wider ones for heading out to the tips.” His wings extended and flexed as he described the process, and as he smoothed the final wrinkles from the towel, he spun around, tucking his wings in tight to avoid knocking against his lamps or anything else. The wash of air still brushed the curtains, setting them fluttering against the dark paneling bordering his single window. “And if it’s okay with you, I wanted to lay down for this. I’m always sitting up, I think it’ll be really fun to lay down and just, you know, relax….”

Hermes’ pupils were larger than Thanatos had ever seen them, and flushed red lips disappeared behind a pointed tongue for a moment as the younger god tried to find his words. “Couldn’t I spread the oil up your wing bones with my hands, too, Angel? Then brushes for the feathers…?”

Than’s mouth dropped open; he groaned, unable to stop himself. “Yes, please, gods, why didn’t I think of that…?!”

Hermes smirked, regaining some of his smug attitude as he assimilated the instructions Than had laid out. “‘Cause you’ve been doing this yourself the same way for gods only know how long and this is new for you so you’re allowed to miss something like that…. Now are you gonna lay down or not…?”

Than turned, leaping and coasting down onto the mattress with his wings spread wide to slow his fall. It wasn’t enough; he grunted, jerking up onto his knees as his hips pressed his cock into the towel. He reached a hand down his body, grasping himself around the base and angling to let his shaft rest beneath his stomach, the tip nearly against his navel as he settled down a little more carefully.

“Too excited, huh, Angel? You okay?” Hermes was clambering onto the bed, and his voice was sympathetic but also a little trembly, as if he was trying not to laugh.

“Yeah, but I’ll get the hang of this, Hermes.”

Hermes uttered a short bark of laughter, quickly silenced with a squeak. “Yeah, I’m sure you will. So, Angel, right or left first?”

“Either, just please, Hermes….”

Two sets of forefingers and thumbs encircled the base of his right wing, kneading with gentle motions around the downy-stubbled joint where the appendage sprouted up from between his shoulder blade and spine. Than pulled a pillow down from the head of his bed, cradling it between crossed arms and laying his left cheek on the cool surface. “Mmmmmm, gods, that’s good, Hermes….”

“Just enjoy, Angel; but tell me if I do anything wrong, m’kay? I never want to hurt you….”

“Just…. Keep on with that, it’s perfect…. You could maybe focus, um, a little, shit…. You see those dark spots, look like grey freckles…?”

“Mmmmmhmmmm, I’m guessing they’re not freckles….”

“Right, um, that’s where my oil glands are, if you, fuck, if you…. Yeaaaaaahhhhhhhh, like thaaaaaat….”

Hermes’ fingers and thumbs were concentrating their swirling-prodding motions around his glands now, so much more effectively than Than had ever been able to do this with his tools, and his breath shivered out of him as his cock began leaking precum between his stomach and the towel.

Hermes sniffed a few times, and Than felt him lean over his back a little more. “Mmmm, Angel! That’s your smell! Gods, I was wondering if it was a cologne or something, but hell, it’s you!”

Than smacked his lips, trying to make his brain work through the melting pleasure of his nerves coming more alive than he could ever remember. “I, uh, yeah, I know it’s a bit gamey, muh-musky, but - ”

“No apologies and no shame, Angel dear. I like it…. Wildwoods and snow, mmmmmm, smells like the mountains….”

Hermes’ fingers were slipping a little more against Than’s skin as the oil really began flowing out of his back, preventing Hermes from targeting his pleasure points as effectively; he squirmed a little, trying to increase the pressure and friction. “Guh, mmmm, like your cologne, too, Hermes, mmmm, maple-n-leather, fuck, good stuff….”

Hermes chuckled, and warm hands left Than’s skin. He whined, but then those hands curled over the thickest part of his long-bones there close to his back and  _ dragged _ upward, leaving a layer of oil behind on the downy feathers. “Not a cologne, Than; that’s all your boyfriend, that is….”

“Fuuuuuuck!” Than’s left wing was stroking the air, slowly enough that it didn’t send him flying through the air but strongly enough that the sensation of a breeze on his feathers grounded him as every nerve in his right wing came alight with pleasure under Hermes’ touch. Those too-warm bony-strong hands returned to his back, flattened to the skin and smoothed down through the coating of oil to gather more before returning to where he’d left off on the long-bone breathless moments before. Another dragging pull, and Than’s wing-arm was coated to almost the tip, every downy-soft feather singing with the nearly-weightless layer of oil. 

Than’s mind went even more blank when Hermes made the final pass, and he simply floated in the haze, barely registering when the towel tugged a little beneath his hips. “Sorry, Angel, just swiping off so I can hold onto your brushes.” 

He mumbled something that might have been  _ okay _ , his cheek sticking to the pillow case; dimly he considered that he should have thought about drool, but then one of Hermes’ hands was flattened in the small of his back, his favorite voice quietly murmured “Here we go, Angel,” and then everything was fireworks and lightning strikes and diving through pouring rain.

Every pass of the brush over his shorter feathers was a surprise and yet anticipated; he didn’t know how quickly or slowly Hermes would move the soft bristles down his quills, or how much overlap each stroke would carry from the pass before, but he knew he would continue to feel, to be set aflame and doused in ripples of ice, and that was enough.

It was so very different from when he handled this himself: then, his brain  _ knew _ what was coming, because it was his hands and arms and thoughts handling the experience from every perspective. 

Now, another had the control, and Thanatos reveled in the release, in the freedom to simply  _ feel _ , to  _ be _ , to  _ soar _ ….

Hermes’ left hand abandoned Than’s back when his working hand was nearly to the middle of Than’s wingspan; the interval between one stroke and the next was only slightly longer than the previous had been, and Than dimly realized his lover had switched brushes with barely a missed beat. 

He couldn’t take it anymore.

He flung the pillow away, planting his hands and shoving hard to raise his torso from the mattress and towel below; his knees shuffled, thighs trembling, and he finally was up, his cock hard and throbbing beneath him even as his left wing stroked the air more powerfully and his right began to shiver under the onslaught of longer, slower, more grinding strokes. 

He was groaning nearly constantly, and it was hard to hear over his pounding heartbeat, but he tried, he did try, when Hermes said, “I’m not gonna hurt you, Angel, but I need to be able to reach….”

Fingers closed firmly but gently around the middle of his long-bone, behind where the brush was still working steadily toward his tip, and he felt the supple bend that Hermes coaxed from his span, allowing the godling to keep working the ridges of bristles over his quills. He whined, giving into the unintentional display of dominance with the only word he had, the only one he needed:

“ _ Please _ ….”

“Let go, Angel; I’ll catch you….”

The brush stroked firmly down his farthest feathers’ lengths, and it felt like the muscles behind his cock were fluttering, cum streaming out of him rather than pulsing or shooting out. He moaned in a low, unbroken song of pleasure as he felt Hermes releasing his long-bone. His untouched wing stretched high above him, trembling in an instinctive display of ecstasy, and Thanatos let his head fall forward as his shoulders hunched behind his neck.

Hermes’ arms wrapped around his torso, and Thanatos began to breathe again. His boyfriend kissed him on the back of his neck, his shivering shoulders, held him up when his arms threatened to give out. The younger god took most of his weight, leaning over the soaked and sticky towel to lay Thanatos on his left side. 

Thanatos blinked blearily up at his boyfriend’s smug face. He tried to say  _ thank you _ , but he couldn’t quite manage the movements he needed from his lips and tongue….

“You’re welcome, Angel. Don’t mind me, I just gotta cum too after seeing that….”

Than’s eyes slipped closed; the last thing he saw before everything went black was a shining hand wrapping around a flushed-dark burgundy cock, wine-speckled skin utterly beautiful in the dimness of his bedroom….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....
> 
> You know it's the good-good when ya just can't stay awake after....
> 
> We'll see where things go for our bois in the morning....
> 
> Also, did y'all catch Hermes with a pusheen-type backpack...? Gods, I love that nerd....
> 
> Ta for now, gotta run to work!
> 
> Much love,
> 
> -Swoonie and the Strange-form Intimacy teratophilic critters in her headspace  
> 22 May 2020


	5. The View from Above

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all.... you know me: I must always follow where my headspace players lead....
> 
> This chapter is from Hermes POV, and this boi done told me he wants it in First Person, Present tense....
> 
> WHICH DOES NOT MATCH WITH THE REST OF THE FIC AT ALL, BUT DAMMIT, HERMES WAS RIIIIIIIIGHT....!
> 
> I did not realize I have not had a Hermes POV section yet, in all my months and months of fic-cing.... the hell?!?
> 
> But boy, maybe this was why....
> 
> Within are musings on new relationships and a lot of top-dominant energy and thoughts from a certain Messenger Between the Gods....
> 
> Also, heavy fluids, and sneaky snooping....
> 
> And feels....
> 
> All the feels....
> 
> My thanks once again to the First Mate of the SS Thanames, rissaleigh49: my dear beta-feeshy, you are ever and always my dearest....
> 
> Enjoy!

My hand around my cock is too damn slick; who’d ever have thought that  _ wing oil _ would be a great hand-job lube?! Icy eyes slip closed, a blissed-out smile tilting the corners of those too-pale lips, and I bite my lip at the sight of him, utterly wrecked from my hands on his body, his wings, those gorgeous, fluffy, fancier-than-a-tux wings - 

I lean forward on my knees, angling my cock down toward the towel as the pressure melts away into pulsing waves of light-and-dark, zipping through my body like fireflies in the night. The shimmery white of my cum mingles in the damp-dark grey of the towel, and as I sit there, panting, I realize my Angel probably needs a drink of water. 

_ Poor boy leaked all over the place; damn, wish I had wings! _

When I can finally feel my toes again, I lift from the bed, folding the corners of the towel over and pulling the whole bundle away; thankfully, there doesn’t seem to be much soak-through, which is good. I can’t imagine that he’ll want to go to sleep half-done, but he definitely should rest a bit, and I can get another towel and something for him to drink while he gets settled before Round the Second.

I move silently into the bathroom, dumping the ruined towel into the hamper and cataloguing the things I can see in Than’s bathroom: basic hygiene stuff, a few brushes for his hair, and a pile of neatly folded towels on a shelf near the shower. The shower itself seems a bit much, until I realize Than probably needs the extra space if he ever showers with his wings out; and maybe that’s another factor here, he needs the oil stuff done tonight so he can shower in the morning….

I head back into the bedroom; he’s still kinda out of it, so I leave through the open doorway back into the main room. It’s not a tiny apartment, but it’s definitely not much either: a couch, barely three-cushions wide, his desk and bookshelf, a coffee table and an ottoman. The top of the ottoman is askew, and I realize it’s one of those storage-box kind; I peek at the innards as I shift the lid back into place, but it didn’t seem anything interesting enough to snoop further, a few magazines, nothing smutty even….

The counter and cabinet-bank separating the “kitchen” from the “living room” is tidy enough, but also seems like the whole cooking thing isn’t really Than’s shtick; there’s not even any dirty cereal bowls in the sink, for crying out loud! I wonder if he’s that skinny because that’s just the way he is, or if he isn’t actually eating enough.

I’m careful upon opening the fridge: you never know if something might clank or attempt an escape, and I don’t wanna wake the boy until he’s had a chance to breathe. There’s eggs, some pizza wrapped in foil, lunch meat, and a tomato that’s already been sliced but isn’t going  _ squish _ yet. A few bottles of sparkling peach wine (weird, but why not!) and a few cans of cola round out this bachelor’s ice-box of goodies. The freezer-top isn’t much better: an opened box of heat-n-eat breakfast sandwiches, the kind that are little pancakes for the bread, and a few individually-quick-frozen fillets of some kind of fish. 

Stars above, you’d think the boy would splurge every so often?!

Welp, no big deal; he’s my boyfriend now, I’ll spoil him good and proper.

I spot a filter-pitcher of water on the counter, so I start hunting for a couple of glasses in the few cabinets that actually have stuff in them. I find two, nice and sparkly even if they look like they haven’t seen much use in recent weeks, and fill them with ice, carefully quiet. . 

I’m proud of my perfect timing when I see Than’s head tilting toward the doorway as I come back in the bedroom with my spoils. 

“Hermes, where’d you go…?”

I smile, walking around the bed and settling to the mattress. “Went to get us something to drink, and maybe I was snooping around a bit; you’ll never know! Here, sit up a bit.” I thunk one glass to the bedside table and reach to help pull him up so he can drink this water. 

That little gasp he makes solidifies some of the errant little fantasies that have been playing in my head for weeks. 

_ One of these days, stud, I’m gonna fuck you against the wall, and you’re gonna do nothing but gasp…. _

He leans against me, only half-way upright, and sips slowly at the water. He seems a little out of it still, or maybe nervous, but I give him time to process; obviously, he came fuckin’ hard more than a few times already this evening, and for his first time, that’s a damn lot….

“Applesauce, thanks….”

“Welcome, Angel. You let me know when you’re ready for the next one, ‘kay?”

“M’kay….”

The way he breathes it out on a sigh is too precious; gods, he’s great, and I’m a lucky god….

He’s finally done with his water a few minutes later, and I take the glass from him, making sure my fingertips trail over his. His wings shiver, the left one a little more than the right, as if it’s begging for the attention it’s owed. Thanatos sighs, his breathing hitching as he starts trying to sit up, or roll over or something. 

He gives me a sheepish look as he finally manages it when I move off the bed to take the glasses back to the kitchen. “I’m not going to be flat on the bed this time, I don’t think….”

“Makes sense; probably really sensitive.”

“Mmmhmmm…. Oh! Oh, shit, Hermes, I’m sorry! You said you needed to cum, too, and I fuckin’ passed out! Gods, I’m sor - ”

“Whoooooa-whoa-whoa, easy, stud!” I leave the glasses on the dresser-top and dart to the bed. I put my hands on either side of his panicking face, stilling his embarrassed head-shakes and keeping him from looking away. “I did, I took care of it; didn’t take much at all, I was right on the edge, hon….”

“.... But I should have - ”

“Babe, I said I’d take care of everything tonight, and you could just enjoy. That promise didn’t cease to exist after we left my place earlier, okay…?”

His eyes glaze over under a haze of tears; it shocks me with how much that hurts my heart already. “I’m taking too much; you’re letting me take too much….”

“Backwards, stud; I’m giving you plenty, and you’re only taking what I’m giving….”

The confusion, the disconnect: that dark-haired nymph messed him up good before he even had a chance to feel actual love….

“.... I do  _ want _ to learn how to… um, how to please you, t-too, Hermes….”

“How about tomorrow, then? Lemme finish grooming these gorgeous wings, okay? I really enjoy that;  _ that _ pleases me….”

It’s almost a visible thing, how he melts into my praise, how he gives in to my request; he’s definitely got some natural submissive tendencies, but he also doesn’t even know the extent of what he is, who he is, under the brokenness and jagged shards of loneliness he’s lived beneath for so long. 

If my mind wasn’t made up before, it is now:

Thanatos needs me, and I’m going to make sure he’s got the best boyfriend in all the realms while he’s mine….

I kiss him, and he kisses back, but there’s still a hesitation here: I can’t tell if it’s pure exhaustion from the wing-stuff or emotional distance again, fear to trust, to hope that what his heart is saying could be true. I know he likes it when I use my muscles (he damn near turns to putty in my hands), so I grab his waist and ease him more onto his right side now; I trail my right hand down his hip, his thigh, cupping behind his knee and tilting his leg up, and all without taking my lips out of reach of his.

My Angel’s a talented kisser, and better than that, he really likes it….

He’s the one to pull away this time, and I let him go; he settles into the mattress, a smile of thanks telling me he’s comfortable with how I’ve arranged him - this way, his cock isn’t smashed against the mattress, but his wings are also still easily accessible to my - 

“Oops, Angel; lemme go get a towel.”

He hums, and I can tell he’s getting turned on again; I know this is gonna be all for the night, and I’m pretty sure I’m done in too, but we’ve gotta get this other wing done. 

I bring back another towel, folded over to fit into the space between his knee and his stomach; he rocks back a bit, giving me space without breaking the shape I’d put him in, and that somehow-natural submission shoots possessive lust through my veins.

_ Perfect for me; the things I can do with you, boy…. _

My Angel settles back into position, balancing his cheekbone on his forearm, and I move to straddle his cocked knee. His eyes follow my motions, closing in bliss when I shift so my half-hard cock is right there on his thigh. He whimpers, and I watch his stomach muscles twitching in the shadows as he lifts his left wing for my touch. 

He’s gonna feel how much I like this, this time around….

My fingers find their places around the base of his wing, the bands and strands of muscles giving to my touch, the hard nubbins of his swollen oil glands shifting and dipping beneath his skin as I hunt them out. It’s like no back massage I’ve ever given before, but I make a definitive note in my brain that I need to talk with him about getting just a regular back massage sometime, too. He’s way too tense, these extra muscles and tendons binding his wings to his back not leaving room enough for any tension. 

And maybe, just maybe, that’s why he’s always so hunchy and angry-seeming: who wouldn’t be, with their back all bound up for eons…?!

But now is not the time, so I concentrate on the slippery skin and musky-smelling warmth of my boyfriend beneath me. 

The oil itself is… it’s weird, yeah, but honestly, so is cum. No big deal, and definitely novel and fun! 

Thanatos is mewling and whining again, primal and needy sounds, and my cock hardens a little more at that. I slide my hands through the trickles and streaks of his pleasure and immediately wrap my palms over his wing-arm, dragging up and up and up, rising onto my knees to take the stroke as far as I can in a single pass. A fluttering  _ snarl _ tears from Than’s lips, his right wing flapping once, violently, against the mattress when my hands pull away, and I settle back to my ass on his leg, slowly, uncertain if I’ve done something wrong.

His eyes are wide, hungry on my face now, an unspoken plea buried in those glacial depths. 

I reach for his back again, and as the slippery slick coats my hands, his eyes slide closed, a rippling purr replacing the earlier mewls and whines, and pre-cum beads at the tip of my cock, smearing on his silvery thigh as I coat the rest of his arching wing’s length with earthy-smelling oil.

I dry my left hand on the towel before reaching for the brushes; I tuck the wider-ridged one along my leg on the mattress and start back at the base of my Angel’s wing with the smaller option. That hungry purr deepens in tone, the ripple becoming a rumble, and I can  _ feel _ it in the mattress as Than buries his face between his arms and the cloth. His stomach muscles are clenched, twitching, and his hips are rocking, shifting me on his leg. I sneak a peek at his cock in the gap between his leg and stomach, and the puddle of precum on the towel is so damn impressive that my own cock leaps clear of his skin for a heartbeat.

My hands stutter with the jolt, and he snarls, a vicious complaint for my mistreatment of his sensitive appendage, and I wonder if I was wrong that he was a full sub….

But that can’t matter now; it’s time to switch brushes. 

I make the transition and continue my work on his shuddering wing; it’s hard to ignore the way my own cock is twitching and leaking against his trembling thigh, but I’m also bound and determined that he will finish, be finished, first.

I repeat the careful manipulation of his wing like I had before, bending it tenderly to keep from hurting him, and only just enough that I can finish brushing him out. He gasps, desperation in his voice as he breaks from the feral purrs and growls that have filled the last few minutes, and in his panting:

“ _ Pluh… please, puh-please…!” _

“Go ahead, Angel; cum again, I’ve got you, doing so good….”

If not for the beaming smile of sheer ecstasy that lights up his face as he throws his head back, I would have thought he was sobbing. His voice is tight, wavering up and down with hardly a pause for breath, and I can’t help but stare as a steady stream of cum pours out of his cock and into the ocean of liquid barely soaking into the towel. 

I’ve seen guys get their prostate milked before, but never anything like this!

Gods, I’m lucky as hell; Than is so fucking hot, and he just doesn’t even know it!

I toss the brushes to the floor as soon as I finish the last stroke, and only then does Than seem to finally start coming down from his orgasm. I pull the towel from beneath him and place it soaked-side-up on the floor too, close to the wall. His bleary eyes are following me, confused about why I’m not holding him, probably; I dart back to the bed, clambering up and helping push his leg down from the bend we’d had him in for all of that.

He’s still panting, and it takes me a bit to realize he’s saying  _ on my left _ with what little breath he has. I help him flip over, wrapping him up in my arms as I lay down on my right side, our chests together and his hands flat over my heart. 

His right wing drapes down over my body, and the wildwood scent of my boyfriend obliterates everything else. I’ll reach down for the blankets to at least cover my legs after he’s asleep; my cock twitches, angry at being ignored, but I ignore it anyway.

Be damned if I put my own horniness over my poor overworked boyfriend’s need for care….

His breathing finally slows down, fading to raspy whispers of air beneath my chin. I tuck his forehead there under my jaw, and he sighs, a contented little sound that I’m beginning to suspect I’d give my left shoe to hear every night….

“Hermes….”

I hum an interested query, but he doesn’t say anything more. I’m deciding he was probably just drifting off when he mumbles something else, and I hold my breath to hear him clearly.

“I know i’ss’nah forever, and I know i’ss’nah your way; you don’haf to love me back…. Jus’please don’leave me….”

“.... Than…?”

I wait, staring at the moon-shot wall for long minutes.

_ …. I will too love you back, and I won’t leave you, Angel…. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp.
> 
> That happened....
> 
> I'd love to know y'alls thoughts on Hermes' voice....
> 
> Do we need more of this spazz?!?
> 
> Ever and always, we appreciate your comments and love....
> 
> -Swoonie and the sensory hedonist darklings in her headspace  
> 27 June 2020


	6. A Feather on the Air

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some warnings within for:
> 
> Continuing instances of anxiety  
> Mild themes of body image issues  
> Shame for one's sexuality / partner(s), including self-loathing  
> Themes of homophobia and derogatory behavior and dialogue (no slurs)  
> Implied dissociative episode
> 
> Please enjoy a delightful mixture of thirst, angst, breakups, and of course, love in the darkness....
> 
> My thanks once more and ever onward to my betafeeshy, rissaleigh49: this time specifically for help with punctuations and grammaticals more than anything, but also her enthusiasm to once again be the First Mate aboard this ship....
> 
> (And secretish thanks to Chinchela, the Chart Mistress aboard the Thanames, for some wonderfully inspiring art of the bois, included herein .... you'll know it when you see it....)

Thanatos sniffed, hard, when his alarm began vibrating and rattling and ping-a-ling-ing on the nightstand behind his back. Out of habit, his right wing stretched, tilting and arching up and behind, pinion-tips finding the screen and the annoying thing finally went silent.

He sniffed again, and a burst of leather-and-maple muskiness filled his nose. 

His eyes shot open and were met with crimson skin - freckles that could have been droplets of wine were sprinkled like stars over that soft expanse. The pale god gasped, his fingers clenching involuntarily against Hermes’ abdomen, and the Messenger snuffled, grumbling sleepily.

Thanatos shifted backward on the mattress, putting a little distance between himself and Hermes, though his heart twinged behind his ribs with every inch. 

_ Have to get up, have to get up, gods-I-need-to-piss!!!! _

He finally got the clearance he needed, rocking up and spinning around to climb off the right-hand side of the bed. He kept his wings tight to his back rather than fanning them out like he usually would, realizing the rush of air might wake his boyfriend.

_ …. Boyfriend…. _

Thanatos sighed, a lightness replacing the twinging in his chest brought by the distance as he entered the bathroom. 

_ …. Hermes is my boyfriend…. _

Finished at the toilet, he turned to the sink, peeking around the doorway at his bed. Hazel eyes blinked slowly at him, and a sleepy smile lifted burgundy lips.

“Mornin’, Angel….”

His breath caught in his chest at Hermes’ husky-raspy voice, and it could have been a trick of the wan light shifting around his wings from the sconce by the shower, but he thought he saw a flash of possessive glee in two sleep-glazed eyes. 

“Morning, Hermes... I, um, I was trying to let you sleep….”

“No big deal, stud; though I can’t fathom why under the Cosmos you need to be awake so early….”

“It-it-it’s just my usual, um, usual time, and I didn’t think to reset the alarm or anything, I’m sorry, I should have realiz- ”

“ _ Whoa _ , Angel,” Hermes interrupted him then, his voice slightly soothing Than’s inane babbling. “It’s fine, it’s my day off, it’s not like I won’t survive a little early rise….”

Thanatos dried his hands on the pale-cream towel on the counter, fighting the panic, knowing he shouldn’t be so worried but unable to make his fears listen to common sense. He kept his eyes on the cloth, wishing he could ignore the padding footsteps that were all too easy to hear approaching the bathroom, coming closer to him. Why was he always crying around his boyfriend?!?!

“Angel, I’m not upset, not even a bit. Waking up earlier than I expected just means I get to spend more time with you before you have work, ‘cause you do have work, don’t you…?” Thanatos nodded as warm, muscular arms folded carefully under his wings, around his waist, and a very warm, very chiseled torso molded against his back; his wings flared to either side, the long-bones flattening along his shoulder-blades so Hermes could hold him even closer. Hermes’ lips were soft behind Than’s left ear, and Than felt a mild tingle of surprise as his head tilted to the right without a conscious thought, exposing more of his neck to his boyfriend’s quiet adoration. “Is this okay, Angel? Wings okay…?”

“ _ Yes…. _ ” It was merely air, but Hermes, Messenger Between the Gods that he was, understood.

_ He’ll always understand…. _

Thanatos promised himself he’d remember that, and maybe he could stop worrying so much, could just enjoy the attention Hermes seemed so eager to give to the God of Death. His back arched when Hermes’ hands began snaking up over his chest, fingers stretched out to cover as much surface area as possible, and he hissed slightly when thumbs and forefingers latched around his nipples. He moaned softly, wanting Hermes to know he was onto something good, and then he gasped rather more harshly when Hermes nipped his neck and twisted his nipples  _ just enough _ to send sparks racing through his suddenly-trembling body.

A rapidly-hardening cock nudged insistently between Than’s thighs, hot and heavy-feeling, and Than writhed slightly, swaying his hips to increase the friction for his lover. Hermes’ teeth left his neck, and panting breaths were sauna-heavy against the shell of his ear.

“Gods, Than, you have no idea how sexy you are; what I could do with your beautiful, sensitive body….” Every word of praise was accented with a heavier grind of muscular hips and thighs against his own ass and legs, and Than melted even more into Hermes’ arms, his boyfriend’s muscles holding him upright effortlessly as Than’s toes curled in the shaggy rug in front of his bathroom sink. “What can I do for you right now, huh, before you have to go to work…? What do you think you might like…?”

The grinding, the delicious friction, the tweaking on his peaked nipples all slowed, slowed, stopped, and Thanatos whined, the absence of sensation a feeling all its own, like grief, like pain…. He panted, licked his lips, and met Hermes’ eyes in the mirror as his head lifted back up from his right shoulder. “Could…. Would it be too soon for more of, um, more…?”

“More of what, stud? I need to hear you say what you want for consent to be real, my dude….”

“.... Um, more, um, more fucking…?”

“.... Little more specific, Angel; you can do it….”

Than swallowed, his own cock thickening and lifting from his thighs now as he thought about the thing he needed to actually ask for.  _ How is this arousing?! _ “Um, uh…. Hermes, would you fuck me in my, um….” He took another shaky breath and whispered: “Would you please fuck my ass…?”

Hermes’ right hand darted up, fingers pushing against Than’s chin, turning his head to meet the Messenger’s; they kissed, Hermes taking everything Thanatos gave and then yet more, and all the while, those clever fingers and hot-hard cock began driving him mad once more. He was dizzy when Hermes finally released his mouth, teeth dragging over his lower lip so he sucked in a harsh breath; he was dimly gratified to see how thin that ring of hazel brightness was around the enormous wells of Hermes’ pleasure-blown pupils.

“I absolutely will please fuck your ass again, stud; as long as we’re careful again, and you’re honest with me, we could do this as often as you want, okay?” Hermes pulled away then, walking backwards into the bedroom again, and Thanatos followed as if entranced. “You just gotta tell me if you, ya know, have any issues in the bathroom, or if anything hurts, ever. Long as you’re honest with yourself, I promise, we’ll never break ya where ya can’t still enjoy everything you want….”

Thanatos nodded, trying to make his brain work enough to catalogue the information Hermes was giving him; he hesitated by the dresser, unsure about how Hermes might want him placed this time, and eyed his boyfriend near the doorway into the living room. The crimson god was rummaging in his cat-faced backpack, finally emerging with a beaming grin, a soft-pac of wet wipes, and the canister of lube from the afternoon before. Hermes sauntered along the length of the dresser, a near-perfect copy of his tantalizing approach the evening before, and Thanatos felt his knees go weak as his cock throbbed. 

The crimson hand with the packet of wipes drifted into place at the small of Than’s back, pulling him closer to the Messenger; they kissed again, wide-mouthed and heavy, and somewhere in that haze of foggy bliss, Than’s wings lifted into the air, micro-shivers catching the air so his feet actually began to leave the ground. Hermes dragged his teeth over Than’s chin, not-quite-biting and yet Thanatos wished his lover actually  _ would _ , and then Hermes was staring, panting, at Than’s own eyes, slightly higher than his own. Thanatos felt his toes find the carpet again, and it took a little too much effort to lower his wings when Hermes licked his lips and lust-bright hazel eyes raked possessively over trembling feathers.

It was hard to hear over the pounding in his ears, but Than couldn’t stop the blush from flooding his cheeks when Hermes whispered hoarsely, “So damn lucky….”

* * *

Thanatos tugged on the hems of his suit coat, shrugging his shoulders to settle the fabric, thoughts drifting back to the hour before. 

He had been annoyed that his wings still refused any attempt at being sent back to the nether-realm he usually stowed them in, which had left him grumbling on the end of his bed as Hermes finished his shower. His shoulders were twinging with his attempts to reach the buttons under each of the well-stitched holes in the back of his dress shirt, and when Hermes had emerged from the bathroom wrapped from waist to thigh in one of Than’s black cotton towels….

_ What did I ever do to deserve him…? _

Hermes had understood Than’s embarrassment without a word, and clever red fingers had danced over Than’s back, binding the panels together above and beneath each wing as if Hermes had done this all his immortal life long. Thanatos had buttoned up the front of his white linen shirt as Hermes worked on the arrangement in his suit jacket, and Than had been so grateful for his boyfriend in that moment that he thought he’d never known the meaning of the word before. 

_ I need him like I never needed Minthe…. I can do this…. _

Thanatos left the corner of the free-standing wall near the elevator, approaching Minthe’s desk outside Hades’ office with his usual prowling stride. Her eyes found his, and he twitched his head and his right wing toward the hall; the nymph he thought he had loved nearly punched the button on the telephone, ending the call without so much as a “got to go,” and Thanatos smothered a grimace at how  _ wrong _ that gesture felt to him now.

_ Callous…. Just like she’s always been to me…. _

_ Why couldn’t I see it before…? _

He walked into an empty conference room, the smallest of four on this floor, and turned toward one end of the table as Minthe all but sprinted into the room behind him. Her sky-high stilettos and long-sleeved black dress clung to her body like skin; she wasn’t quite dressed to kill, but it wasn’t really a sedate and professional look, either.

_ …. Was I ever even attracted to her…? _

“Well…?!”

Thanatos blinked and shuffled his wings, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning on his right hip against the edge of the black marble table. “I didn’t find out anything.”

“Excuse me…?” Her voice was little more than a hiss, icicles shivering on a cavern’s vaulted ceiling, susurrus and ruin.

“I didn’t find out anything. Hermes didn’t tell me anything about Kore’s name change or the shade records that are missing.”

“That can’t be right! He’s covering for her or something; he’s in and out of the Mortal Realm all the time! Whatever shit she pulled, he knows! Why didn’t you push harder, huh?! What good are you if you can’t even - ”

“Minthe, I’m done.” She glared at him, her hands frozen in mid-rant, clawed in front of her chest as if she’d strangle him for his inability to fulfill her desperation. “You told me last week that we were done, and you still asked me to dig for dirt on the new goddess. I shouldn’t have agreed. I don’t want to do this anymore, so we’re done.”

As if a switch had flipped, Minthe’s entire demeanor changed: her clawing talons softened to smooth down the front of her dress, her eyes widened and focused somewhere around his lips, and her weight shifted to her left hip, a seductive tilt that accentuated the subtle swell of her ass and rounded out the short skirt of the clinging black dress. “Oh, honey, don’t you know a little tease when you hear one? And honestly, Hades thinks that little tart will have him soon anyway, so he’s trying to drop me, can you believe that?! I should have told you; I didn’t mean to forget….” She approached him, heels tocking against the floor in a determined cadence of intended power. “We can go right back to the way we were, and who knows…? Maybe we can do more, hmmmm? Would you like that…?”

Her fingertips dipped behind his belt, her body melting against his as she stretched onto her toes in an attempt to reach his lips. Thanatos felt his stomach clench, the half of Hermes’ breakfast sandwich he’d managed to swallow threatening an encore at the back of his throat as he fought for the word he should have used long before.

“No.”

Her lips were near his chin, and her eyes snapped open, locking on his. “.... Excuse me…?”

Thanatos swallowed, not moving any part of his body, refusing to show weakness as something like fear stole over his mind. “No, Minthe.”

She shoved against him, her half-formed fists rough against his stomach as she took a handful of steps backwards, her face a twisted mask of rage and pain. “No?!  _ NO?!? _ What makes you think you can tell me  _ no _ , you bastard?!”

Thanatos bent slightly, his stomach tender where her knuckles had bruised him. He took an unsteady breath and met her anger-glinting eyes. “I am not a bastard, and I have a right to say no, Minthe. You’re done using me, and I’m done helping you hurt people who don’t deserve your hate.”

“Using  _ you?! _ The hell I was! You think you can just, what, tease me for months on end and then dump me?!”

“You dumped me! Last week!”

“You know I didn’t mean it!”

“The hell I do! You only ever used me and I let you because I thought you could love me!” They were both nearly yelling now, but Thanatos didn’t care anymore: enough had been enough months ago, and there would be no uncertainty left in Minthe’s mind when he was done with her today. “You used me to try to make Hades jealous! You used me for stupid, petty shit left, right, and center! I’m not a bad person, Minthe, but the mask I wore for you? I’m sick of it! I don’t need your shit just so I won’t be alone, not anymore, so fuck o-”

“Not alone…?”

_ …. Oh fuck…. _

Thanatos swallowed as Minthe’s eyes ran him up and down; once again, Than cringed from the unwanted and unasked for feelings of violation that simple gesture forced into his mind. “Minthe….”

“You have got to be kidding me….” She chuckled, a deadpan, mirthless sound that carried only derision. “I sent you to the flirt’s house for dirt, and you…. What? You get some tail while you’re there and forget whose side you’re supposed to be on…?”

“Stop it, Minthe….” Thanatos felt himself blushing, and he shrank against the table as her eyes widened when she spotted the increasing brightness on his cheeks.

“Oh. My. Gods…. You didn’t….” 

“.... Stop….”

“.... Well, no wonder you never even tried to get some from me, huh…? I never would have guessed; you play it off so well. All this time, and it was ‘cause I wasn’t packing, huh…?”

Thanatos couldn’t speak; the feelings of barely smothered shame clawed at him once more, purple-violent words and crimson-hateful scoffs forcing his wings to wrap around his body in a futile shield.

Minthe huffed and tossed her hair over her shoulder as she turned for the door. “Well, you’re right: we’re done. I obviously just don’t do it for you, so, you get what you wanted after all. Honestly, it’s pathetic….”

….

….

….

The door was still open, and Thanatos stared at the open space in the hallway blankly for long minutes before his feet finally seemed to reconnect to his body. His wings stayed tight around him as he made his way to the elevator, and somewhere in the numb and foggy haze, a humorless chuckle lanced his heart again….

_ Pathetic. _

_ Broken. _

_ Sick. _

_ Disgusting. _

The murky scent of the locker room that led into Acheron brought Thanatos out of his mind, breaking the spiraling spell of shame and hurt as he started carefully unlatching the buttons around his wings. The echoing chamber was, as always, abandoned: no one ever used this musty damp room of stone and mirrored glass except for himself and Hermes. Most times, the King would dress in his own office en-suite; Than had been a little shocked last week to see the King’s locker down here actually in use while he gave Persephone that tour. 

Thanatos stared at his reflection in the warped mirror inside his locker, hating the  _ hollowness _ in his eyes….

_ She can’t hurt me…. They’re only words…. _

The God of Death sniffed, his eyes burning as his knees gave out. His half-wrapped himation did little to stifle the chill of the bench as he sat down heavily, burying his face in his hands.

_ Why am I like this?! No one else but Ma wants to be with a man, not Hypnos or the girls or the Keres! Why me, what’s wrong with me?!  _

His phone vibrated on the bench beside him; through the tears, the text message bubbled with red-toned glyphs, and Than chuffed a watery laugh as he realized Hermes had changed the settings in his chat app to reflect their new relationship.

_ Hey, stud! I made it home N I’m bagging up Asshat’s gross shit. Just wanted to say I’m excited 4 2nite! Can’t wait 2 C U! _

Thanatos thumbed a reply, the words automatic as he fought against the fear, the pain. Hermes wouldn’t want him for long; he was only offering his home out of guilt for what the purple bastard had said the day before. Hermes didn’t really want  _ him _ ; who would…? He was a mess, a broken thing, not worth the time….

_ Sounds good. I’ll see you later, Hermes.  _

Thanatos half-rose from the bench, propping his phone against his shoes on the shelf inside his open locker before sitting back down again. His hand clawed down his face, and he wished the emotions would swipe away as simply as the tears.

_ I won’t cry when he leaves me…. I won’t…. He shouldn’t have to see me cry so much; no one wants that. Pathetic, that’s what it is, Minthe was right….  _

_ Minthe was right…. _

His phone buzzed against his shoes, and Hermes’ smiling face covered the entire screen. 

_ Incoming Video Call from : Applesauce _

“....  _ Oh no no no nononononono! _ ”

Thanatos lunged as the phone vibrated itself off the shelf, catching it before it smashed to the floor, but his thumb landed right on the green button. He held the phone near his knee, Hermes’ muffled voice sending his heart thundering through his chest. 

“ _ Angel, wha --- g’on? You okay? W --- see you?!” _

Thanatos swallowed a lungful of mildew-tainted air and brought the phone to the side of his face, hoping Hermes could only see his features in profile. “Sorry, Hermes; nearly dropped the phone. I’m in the locker room, can’t talk now.”

“No, hon, look at me, please; what’s wrong? I know something’s up, please talk to me….”

Than clenched his jaw, biting down on the lump in his throat. “I’m fine, Hermes….”

“Bullshit, Angel….”

Thanatos couldn’t do it anymore: the tears fell, his voice broke. He told Hermes everything that Minthe had said, the way she’d eyed him so disgustedly, how her laugh had been colder than ice….

He ground the heels of his hands into his eye sockets, knowing he looked a pitifully gross mess; the phone was propped against his bag on the bench now, and he refused to meet Hermes’ eyes in the screen. Those hazel eyes would be too kind, too understanding: Hermes didn’t deserve to feel badly for Than not knowing how to break off a toxic relationship before it got so bad. That wasn’t his job; he didn’t love Thanatos, he didn’t have to….

Than’s heart twisted as he realized he loved the crimson god like he’d never thought he could love anyone but his family, and a fresh wash of tears burned like acid on his flushed skin.

Hermes’ voice was rough, too, and it took everything Thanatos had in him not to look at the screen. “Gods, Than, I’m sorry; she should never have treated you that way, but you’re done with her now. You barely have to deal with her, even at work. You’ll be okay, and you’ve got me now.”

_ Sniffle. _ “Yeah. Thanks, Hermes….”

“Than…?”

“Hmmm?”

“.... Don’t freak out; I kinda meant to tell you this morning, but then we got all distracted and stuff. You said some things last night, when you were falling asleep.”  _ …. Oh gods, no! Please no! You idiot, you didn’t -  _ “You said that you knew it wasn’t my way, that you couldn’t help it, but you didn’t need me to love you back, you just need me not to leave.”

Than stared at the screen, at hazel eyes innocent and calm in a bold face of sunset and life-blood red. “.... I’m sorry, Hermes, I know that’s not what you signed up for, I didn’t mean to, I can’t even say when, how, I’m sorry, please, please, I didn’t - ”

“I love you, too, Angel.”

His breath caught in his chest, and if his hands hadn’t been trembling so violently against the bench, he’d have thought he didn’t have arms any more with how numb everything suddenly felt. 

“.... You love  _ me…? _ ”

“Yeah, stud; ya think I go home with a guy one night and then invite him to move in with me the next morning if I don’t love him…?”

“I….”

“Look, Than. You’ve been alone a long time, and then your one and only try at a relationship was with a manipulative bitch. And  _ then _ , because I was an idiot, your first time got a little messed up with a hateful bastard’s stupidity. I wanna take care of you; you’re sexy, you’re gorgeous, you’re sweet, and I’ve wanted to be more than your friend for a while. It is a little faster than my usual, but I can handle it. I’m a big boy. So, yeah. I love you. You need love, Angel, big time…. Let me be your boyfriend, every which way, please?”

“I… I-love-you-too-Hermes!”

Hermes laughed, and Than smiled, tears still pouring down his cheeks, but he couldn’t look away from the screen now, no matter how embarrassing he knew he looked.

_ He loves me, too…. _

* * *

Thanatos fiddled with the laurels woven around his head, half-smiling at his reflection in the mirror. He’d spent the last half-hour in a blissful haze, nearly dancing back and forth across the locker room as he finished getting ready for his day escorting newly deceased and ghost-bound mortal shades into the Underworld. Hermes’ voice echoed in his heart, and he thought his feet had never felt so light. He hovered inches above the cold stone of the floor, unable to stay earthbound with love claiming every fiber of his being.

A fizzle in the air, something he’d felt only once before in his millenniums-long life: his heart stuttered behind his ribs, and one hand fisted the fabric shrouding him as the other latched onto the edge of the iron basin at his waist. The wall creaked, the mirror warping under the tension, as his desperation bent the heavy fixture and torqued its moorings to the stone behind it. 

_ Hells and stars, what under the Cosmos is Hades  _ **_doing_ ** _?! _

A faint voice echoed in his mind, rose-bright, thorn-dark, dripping with ichor-hungry venom and purest wrathful rage:

_ “.... My name is Persephone, bringer of death, and you will not infantilize it. You entered a realm you are not welcome in, to lay claim to a person you are not welcome to. You are a disgrace to gods and men for your behavior. You raped me, and then humiliated me into silence. You should be on your knees, trembling before me, and begging my forgiveness….” _

Thanatos’ knees threatened to give way at the power swirling through the eddies of the Underworld’s existence; the wall groaned again as he strong-armed the sink into a brace for his trembling frame. 

_ Shadow-shine, holy shit….  _

_ She’s the Queen of the Underworld…. _

….

He came to a few minutes later, shaking his head and clambering stiffly up from the cold floor. The pipes beneath the sink were leaking slightly from where his collapse had fractured the seals on the joints. 

He could not have cared less.

The memory of a dread voice and ire-filled words filled his mind as he finally (very, very belatedly) left the locker room for the portal to the Mortal Realm. 

_ Persephone’s the Queen of the Underworld. That felt just like when Hades got down here and had his first wrath as King…. _

Thanatos let himself forget sometimes that he, more than any creature in existence, was a true Cthonic being. The first-born son of the Ones who hold the Underworld’s borders in their keeping, the first scion born in the Underworld itself: his power and soul was tied to this Realm in a way no other being could claim, and things that changed the fabric of this Realm’s existence struck chords in his very bones.

_ She’s Queen…. _

_ She’s Queen, and I invaded her privacy…. _

_ …. It is a damn good thing I stopped digging when I did; she’s… absolutely dreadful…. _

_ Damn good thing…. _

_ …. _

_ Did the girls know about this…?! _

Than scoffed, berating himself for the thought.

_ Of course they did.  _

* * *

Thanatos adjusted the handles of the bags in his sweating palms, staring at the vibrant azalea bushes, the pristine white walls, the shining glass windows. 

_ Just…. Just walk up to the door, Thanatos, honestly, fucking coward! _

A deeply unsteady breath, and the god of Death approached his boyfriend’s front door. He half-bent to place his bags on the mat and was raising his hand to knock when the door flew open and he was unceremoniously dragged over the threshold. 

His wings lifted high behind him and he floated into the air, barely registering the gold-lined black joggers and loose teal tank top that Hermes was wearing as his boyfriend pulled him close. Than’s hands landed around the back of Hermes’ skull and along that strong jaw, and Thanatos tucked his face into that wonderfully mussy hair, nuzzling the thin cotton band that was doing almost nothing to contain the fiery mess. 

Hermes’ left hand molded over Than’s knee, and his right slid up from Thanatos’ hip to the middle of his back. A quiet chuckle murmured against Than’s chest as Hermes caressed him. “Damn, Angel, you’re always floating into the air these days; what am I gonna do with you…?”

Than rubbed his jaw over Hermes’ hair again, leather and maple drowning him in bliss. “I love you, Hermes….”

“Love you, too, Angel mine….”

Thanatos sighed.

_ You love me, too, and that’s all I need for now…. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .... Y'all forgot we had a crossover happening...? 
> 
> Yep. This chapter aligns nearly perfectly with Chapter 4 of [Come Home with Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22094398/chapters/52729324). 
> 
> Please be aware that anytime Thanatos refers to "the girls," he's referring specifically to The Fates. You will also recall that the girls are the ones who set Persephone up to leave TGOEM in the opening chapter of Come Home with Me. (teehee, we loves our Easter Eggs)
> 
> A little behind the scenes for my little ones today - The scene with Minthe could have gone a number of ways. The Muses vacillated for weeks between having Minthe just BLOW UP on Thanatos, pure rage and disgust, or the more somber, condescending, "that's pathetic." In the end, we got a combination of the two, and I'm very pleased with this outcome.
> 
> There have been recent developments in my own personal life that are now somewhat feeding into my headspace while writing this fic. I can't promise you'll see a shift in the way this fic gets written moving forward, but you may notice some tonal shifts, or scene paintings that begin to ... be more, do more.... No promises, but we'll see how things turn out in the end. 
> 
> Next chapter will be Than's first evening in Hermes' home as his official, living together boyfriend. 
> 
> Emotions? Check.   
> Strange habits? Check.   
> A missing shirt...? Check....
> 
> Oh. Maybe you didn't need to know about that....
> 
> *shrug*
> 
> Anyhoo! 
> 
> Ta for now, little ones! 
> 
> \- Swoonie (and the emo-bois in my headspace)  
> 27 July 2020


	7. Understand? (You're not from around here, son....)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must provide a note upfront that this chapter is told from multiple perspectives - both Thanatos and Hermes - in a back-and-forth style, and that Thanatos' sections are in his traditional third-person past-tense formal, while Hermes' sections are in his first-person present-tense informal. I tried so hard to make this chapter stay with ONE or the other of these perspectives BUT the bois said no. 
> 
> I must let the bois tell their story the way they want. They're brats. Bossy little brats....
> 
> ANYHOO
> 
> Within this chapter we have:
> 
> Anxiety (as always) and scaffolding/supports/coping mechanisms  
> Teasing and trying new sexy-time things  
> Dirty talk  
> Heavy necking and sensual touching   
> Hair-pulling  
> Dominant partner giving verbal instructions  
> Performing a blowjob for the first time   
> (including attempted deep-throating that is unsuccessful - no grossness)  
> Cum swallowing  
> Fertility deity powers (including no/minimal refractory period)  
> Anal fingering  
> Anal penetration  
> Prostate manipulation and intense prostate orgasm
> 
> and of course - it wouldn't be a Thanames fic without....
> 
> WING KINK WING KINK WING KINK!
> 
> Smol disclaimer - Swoonie writes hot-smanging smoots - please be prepared with your choice of hydration (water recommended) and privacy OR a willingness to blush in public.
> 
> Enjoy responsibly, but do enjoy....

**Thanatos:**

“And here’s where the magic happens, stud….” Hermes swept open the door on the left side of the hall, a showman revealing his piece de resistance, and Thanatos stepped in awe over the threshold.

“.... This room is huge, Applesauce….”

“Yeah, well, more room for fun!” Hermes darted past the dumbfounded god of Death, thumping the bags he was carrying for Than to the foot of the mattress. “Bathroom en suite right through there.” He pointed to the wall to Than’s right before spinning on his toes toward the head of the bed. “Wall outlets for phones on both sides. You like sleeping on your left side, right? That works out well: I like the right side, so that leaves you the whole left side for your wings.” Hermes beamed at Thanatos, and he felt his lips lifting in mirrored happiness. 

The doorbell rang, and Thanatos felt his shoulders hunch in a flinch. Hermes gave a brash squawk and blasted past Thanatos, thundering down the hallway and calling over his shoulder. “That’ll be the pizza! Set your stuff down and come back down to the kitchen, ‘kay? I’ll get it all laid out!”

Than’s half-voiced whisper of hesitation faded, his wings wrapping around his body as he laid his jacket and satchel beside his other bags on the bed. 

_ You can do this, Thanatos…. _

_ It’s just downstairs, around the corner, two lefts and a right…. _

_ No, wait…. _

_ Right-left-right? _

_ …. _

_ Just get back to the stairs, that’s first…. _

Thanatos left the bedroom with shuffling steps, moving toward the window down the hall before he realized the stairs were the other direction. His fingers trailed over the right-hand wall, thumping over the lintels and jambs as he tried to remember his glimpses of the downstairs layout from yesterday.

His heart began thundering as he descended the stairs with quiet steps. 

* * *

**Hermes:**

I grab two plates out of the cabinet and thump them to the table. One is dark purple, almost grape-colored. I scowl at it and consider flinging it into the trash to smash it. I place it carefully in the sink instead; I’ll donate it somewhere tomorrow. I hear a soft sound from somewhere near the stairs, and I turn to the doorway, a smile ready on my lips for my Angel as I shift the pizza boxes to the table, too.

He’s not there.

My hair flops as I tilt my head to the side. Was I hearing things?

“Angel? Ya get lost or something…?” I’m starting to giggle (he’s so much fun to tease) when I hear a too-quiet murmur that sounds like it’s coming from the living room. “Wha’wazzat…?”

“Yes.”

….  _ Ooooooookay…. _

I head to the living room to see my boyfriend standing in the doorway, staring at the baseboard along the hallway floor to his right, the shine of tears visible even in the late evening light filtering through the windows behind him. His wings are tight around his front again, so I know he’s feeling embarrassed. He sniffles, turning his head that much more away from me again, and it’s a little scary to me how much that hurts my heart already.

“I tried, Applesauce, but…. There’s too man-many doors, too many and they-they-they all look the same…!” His voice is straining high; he’s breaking down right in front of me. Why am I standing here like an idiot and staring at him?!

I close the distance and his wings open for me to slip into his embrace; I don’t think he even meant to lift them, but I don’t think he could have actually resisted. 

_ My poor Angel; so much anxiety for such a sweet man…. _

“Than, Angel, it’s okay, really. Come with me into the kitchen, and we’ll get you something to drink, and then we can talk, okay? I want you to be comfortable here, not scared or anything. Come on, walk with me now.” I start backing away, pressing against his wings behind my back and forcing him to stumble with me by my hands around his waist. He chuckles wetly against my neck, and I spin toward the doorway we need so that his wings unfurl and he falls in step beside me, my right hand in his left. 

I lead my Angel through my house and back to the kitchen, trailing my fingers over his as he takes a seat at the table on the stool I pulled out for him special: no slats to pinch his wings or bars to block his back. I keep my ears tuned to his heavy sniffles and muffled whimpers as I grab glasses from the cabinet and cola from the fridge. He’s trying so hard to regain his composure, and I can’t help but start compiling a list of things I need to talk to him about: crying and feeling safe to cry are right near the top of that list now. I approach the table with the drink stuff and keep my eyes off of Thanatos as he hastily swipes under his lashes and over his nose with a napkin left nearby for dinner. He accepts the glass of cold cola from me when I slide it to him over the table, and I plunk down into my own chair sort-of across from him, ignoring the rumble in my stomach as I gather my thoughts.

“Okay, Than, you can be honest with me. If you’re claustrophobic, what can I do to make things feel more safe here for you?”

He stares at me with confusion for a moment before his brain seems to catch up to my inquiry. He half-smiles and his voice is thick and tight even though he’s obviously trying for flippant humor. “Oh, no, Hermes, I’m not claustrophobic…. If I were, do you think I’d live in the apartment I do?”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that; so, um, what’s this about the doors, then? I don’t think I can change the doors….”

His wings tuck around him as best they can again, and he stares at his hands cupping his glass of soda. “.... You don’t need to. It’s my problem, that’s all. I’ll…. It just may take me a long time to figure out what’s where, and I may….” He looks away suddenly, and shifts on the stool, like he might rise. “No, Hermes, I can’t do this. I can’t ask you to put up with me for weeks getting lost in your home; I’ll get my things and -”

I rocket up out of the chair and fly over to him, plunking down on his lap to keep him from being able to leave. He stares at me with panic-frantic eyes, but he needs to understand: he’s not broken, or he won’t be for long, and he deserves some happiness and fun, dammit!

“Thanatos, stay. Please? This is a big ole’ house to live in all alone. I love you. Please stay with me, Angel…?”

His face crumples again, and I pull his face to my chest, picking the ribbon out of his hair and starting to comb through his wavy strands with my fingers. I murmur to him, telling him he’s allowed to cry, that he doesn’t have to leave, that I’ll draw him a map if that helps! 

And none of it’s a lie: I do love him, he needs love, and I wanna be the one to show him what that should be like.

He’s my Angel, and I’m gonna make sure he’s loved….

* * *

**Thanatos:**

Thanatos pulled his face from Hermes’ soft tank top after a few minutes of soaking it with tears. He chuckled in embarrassment, swiping at the streaks and splotches with trembling fingers. Hermes captured his hands and ducks his head, attracting Than’s gaze with his own hazel eyes peering in quiet, calming patience. Thanatos met those beautiful off-green rings of light and blushed. 

“A map would help, Applesauce. It would. Thank you.”

Hermes smiled, and the brightness of his happiness was blinding; a moth entranced by a bonfire would have been less stunned than Thanatos at that moment. Hermes lifted Than’s hands in his and kissed his knuckles; the death-god suppressed a shiver at the tingles those cherry lips left racing through his skin. 

“Sure thing, stud. I want you to be happy here. I want you to feel comfortable, so I’ll do up a map of both floors right after dinner, okay?”

“M’kay….” Hermes pecked a kiss to the tip of his nose and then patted his shoulder as he clambered off Than’s lap. 

“Okay, so, I’ve got pepperoni and chicken pizza, mushrooms with the chicken and olives with the pepp’s. You want one or the other, or one of each?”

“Anything is fine, Hermes. I’m really not that hungry.”

Hermes eyed him from under his lashes as he opened the top-most pizza box. Than gulped and tried to look innocent.  _ I’ve given him enough weirdness for one day. Just don’t pry…. _

“Thanatos, would you do something for me?” Hermes’ voice had dropped an octave and rolled like thunder in the mountains as he lifted a slice of pepperoni pizza from the box and lowered it carefully to one of the plates. Thanatos shivered, his wings rustling, his entire body flushing at the tone.

“Yes, absolutely….”

“Okay. Promise me you’ll take care of yourself. Eat when you’re hungry. Sleep when you’re tired. Cry when you need to. I don’t wanna push; I pushed enough already, I think. But I know you’ve got some stuff you’re hiding, and that’s fine. I just want you to be healthy.” Crimson fingers placed the plate with a slice of each kind of pizza in front of Thanatos, and hazel eyes were serious on Than’s face, diving into his soul with the sincerity of his request. “Take care of yourself, so I can take care of you, too?”

Tears, again, and Thanatos fought within himself: long habits telling him crying would only drive Hermes away, that it was weakness and gross and he shouldn’t have to be such a mopey mess. But Hermes’ face didn’t change; if anything, hazel eyes were shining in simple sympathy.

“.... I promise, Hermes….”

And he let the tears fall as he began picking at his pizza with trembling fingers….

* * *

**Hermes:**

I bite the cap of the pen between my teeth, staring at the paper on the coffee table and trying to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything important.  _ Doors. Windows. Labels on the rooms. Where the stairs come in and out on the floors. I think that’s it! _ I lean back into the couch cushions with the paper in my left hand and fling my arm up and over Than’s shoulders, holding the paper where he can see. I pluck the cap from my mouth with my other hand and slip it back onto the pen.

“Well, Angel, one Hermes Original map! As promised. Take a look, see if there’s anything unclear?”

Thanatos takes the map from my fingers and tilts his head forward, a curtain of his gorgeous hair swinging by his cheek and hiding his face from me. It’s pretty crazy how seeing it makes my fingers itch; I wanna brush it back, tuck it behind that cute little ear,  _ tug _ on it, but I’m thinking that might be too much right now. My boyfriend is more than a little touch-starved. He needs time to adjust, for sure. 

After a few moments, he leans forward and places the map carefully on the tabletop; then he’s turning to face me, swiping a hand through those silver strands I had wanted to pluck like harp-strings. His face is a mix of self-conscious embarrassment and utterly open devotion.

I have to bite back a growl of sheer lust and need.  _ So. Damn. Gorgeous! _

“Thank you, Hermes. Um….” He considers for a moment, and then, carefully, he closes the space between us until his lips and tongue meet mine. I lean back, giving him room, and he takes it. His left hand finds a trembling place on my right thigh and he braces, moving to straddle me like I’d done to him yesterday.

_ Was it really only yesterday?! _

He’s testing with this kiss, I can tell: he’s good at what he knows, but he’s realizing there’s more to kissing than raw technique and talent. He’s pushing, guiding, plying new waters this time; it makes me want him even more. 

I’m hard (ridiculously hard) and he’s hovering his own crotch just out of reach, the tease!

My hands creep down to his knees, and he lurches, his concentration broken - but only for a moment. He assaults my mouth anew, and I let him. I have my own plan, after all. I trail my fingers up, cupping the backs of his thighs, feeling the way the lean strands of muscle there are trembling. 

When I finally reach his ass, he can’t keep it up anymore. He pulls out of my mouth with a desperate gasp and a keening whine, burying his face in the crook of my neck as his hips finally stutter forward and down. Both of our cocks meet, hard and heavy and bound behind too many layers of fabric, and we both grind helplessly for a moment, the friction irresistible. I chuckle when we both sway to a stop, and he moans. 

“Angel, what would you like to do tonight, hmmmm?” I let my voice be a little breathless; he earned that much, for sure. 

He whimpers a reply against my neck, and I can feel the heat of his cheeks as he blushes.  _ He’s too damn cute.  _ I pinch his ass through his pants, and he jerks up, his hair swiping harshly against my cheek. I cock an eyebrow at him, and that too-blue blush gets impossibly bright, almost neon.

He bites his lip, and I nearly throw him to the table. 

He steels himself: I can see the resolve set into his jaw like a hammer meeting an anvil’s scarred surface. His voice is trembly, but his eyes are icy fire on mine. 

“I want you to teach me how to use my mouth to please you, and then I want more anal sex.” I stare at him, my brain fizzling into nothing. “Um, please…?” He blushes again, the bravado and confidence melting away as I continue to stare.

_ …. What the  _ **_fuck_ ** _ are we still doing here on the couch?! _

“You got it, stud.” My voice is gruff, need and hunger boiling under my skin and turning me wild. I pick him up, holding him close to my chest until his arms and legs wrap around my body and he clings to me; I lean over, swiping up the map as he  _ squeaks _ \- he fucking  _ squeaks! _ \- and then we’re heading for the stairs. I start flying after a few steps: it’ll be easier than clomping up the stairs like a drunk minotaur or something. 

And it’s a whole lot faster, which is good, because Than’s started nibbling my  _ godsdamn  _ earlobe, all timid and shy and testing things out again and  _ damn his sexy self! _

I spin and collapse onto the end of my bed, and the jolt knocks his teeth loose from my tingling ear. I catch his mouth with mine before he can so much as say  _ oof _ , and I let my imagination start running  _ wild…. _

* * *

**Thanatos:**

Hermes’s mouth was vicious, tempestuous, and Thanatos let himself be swept away in the storm. He may not have had much experience (dare he think it:  _ yet? _ ), but he knew some things just from living for so long. 

Hermes had a dominant streak, and Thanatos could tell the difference in this kiss from the one they had just shared. Then, Hermes had been  _ allowing _ Thanatos to explore, to take control, to call the shots; now, Hermes was in control again, and Thanatos found he truly, thoroughly, desperately enjoyed just…

Enjoying.

But it didn’t change that he wanted to get his mouth on Hermes’ cock, and he wanted it yesterday.

He whined around Hermes’ lips and ground his hips down against his boyfriend’s. The sparks of pleasure and ripples of desire snapped their mouths apart and they stared at each other from inches away, panting and gasping and… loving….

“Alright, stud. Hop up.” Hermes’ voice was quiet, but there was no mistaking his tone. Or the tiny  _ pop  _ of a flat palm to Than’s hip. Thanatos shrugged his shoulders, hard, forcing his wings to  _ stay gone _ . 

_ I only just barely got them hid again, for fuck’s sake! _

Than started backing up off those corded thighs to stand, and Hermes’ knees drifted apart, allowing the death-god a space between them. His eyes locked on the straining mound at Hermes’ waist, at the twitches and jerks beneath the fabric that kept time with their pounding hearts. His own cock  _ ached _ , a dull burn calling to him from behind his groin, but Thanatos’ entire focus was on doing his damnedest to please his lover, to use his mouth and hands and -

“On your knees, please, Angel. My cock’s not quite that long to reach ya up there!”

Thanatos blushed again, but a smile tilted his lips. “Oops….” He drifted to the floor, and one of Hermes’ callused hands caught his chin as he settled to his knees. Their eyes met, and Thanatos drowned in twinkling hazel stars. 

“No worries, stud. Can you do something for me?” Than nodded, carefully, his chin still resting like a bird on Hermes’ fingertips. “I want your wings out, please. I know you just put ‘em away, but I like looking at them, hearing them, okay?”

Than melted, his spine turning to noodles and his control on the magic dissolving under the earnest request. His wings ruffled into reality, and his shoulders shivered as the muscles in his back realigned. Thanatos could hardly believe his eyes as Hermes’ pupils dilated; surely it wasn’t all that impressi-

“Beautiful….” The word was rapture, adoration, devotion, and Thanatos felt it strum something in his soul, a deep-held part of himself that he sometimes was sure was dead.

_ Worship _ ….

Hermes was worshipping his wings, and Thanatos felt, for the first time in too long a time, like a god in truth and not just in name.

No one worshipped Death.

No one called him “Beautiful.”

But Hermes did, and worship deserves a blessing in return….

Thanatos dropped his eyes to Hermes’ waist, his fingers sliding up the crimson god’s thighs to pull at the waistband of his joggers. Hermes leaned back on the bed, bracing his hands and flexing his hips up to allow Than to pull the fabric down. 

Thanatos swallowed thickly as Hermes cock  _ sprang _ out, full and hard and pulsing, shining with dampness around the slit in the tip. This close to the crimson skin, Than was entranced by the way the sprinkling of wine-colored freckles around Hermes’ lower belly continued in a random dance down over his balls and half-way up the shaft of his cock. Thanatos licked his lips and dragged his eyes up as he pulled the joggers off Hermes’ bare feet. The Messenger sat up again, fingers slowly catching the hem of his tank top and drawing it over his head, knocking his headband askew. Hermes smiled softly at Than as his face reappeared, and Than’s fingers clenched on his own thighs, itching to stroke crimson skin and feel the god writhe under his touches.

“Just go slow, Angel, and listen to how I react, okay? Try whatever you like; I know I’m gonna enjoy this….” Hermes smirked, but there was a hunger in his eyes that deepened his teasing confidence to something commanding, demanding.

Thanatos’ fingers trembled until they found their places, his left wrapped carefully around the base of Hermes’ cock and his right cupping the narrowness of Hermes’ waist. Than’s eyes dropped once more to the wine-star spangles and shining skin, and then he let them close as he sealed his lips over the bulb of crimson flesh. 

It was hot and heavy on his tongue, and there was a salt-somber taste that set Than’s mouth to watering. His mind went blank, and he stopped trying to think through  _ what _ he should do,  _ how  _ he should do this.

He sucked, because it felt right. His tongue writhed because it was wrong to leave it limp and still. His head drifted slowly back and forth, and his left hand tightened carefully and mimicked the trails his lips made along the shaft, up and down, a little twist here, a slinking wriggle there.

“Oh my  _ gods _ ….” Hermes’ voice, strained and keening, drew Than’s eyes upward. He ducked his shoulders and tilted Hermes’ cock down, so he could keep working it over, and he sucked in a ragged breath through his nose at what he saw on Hermes’ face.

Jaw hanging loose. Pupils absolutely blown wide. A shine of drool at the corner of swollen lips. 

“Angel,  _ fuuuuucckkkk _ , you’re a gods-damned  _ natural _ …!” Hermes flopped back to the bed, one arm landing over his eyes, and his hips stuttered up, forcing Thanatos to press his elbows into Hermes’ thighs.

Hermes moaned at that, ragged-edged and wanting, and Thanatos sucked harder. His saliva and Hermes’ sweetening fluids mingled in his mouth like ouzo and water, consuming and delicious. He raised his body more over his knees, bracing his elbows on his boyfriend’s flexing thighs, and his fingers clenched into Hermes’ waist as he  _ pushed _ opening his mouth wider and feeling the swollen tip of the god’s cock flattening the back of his tongue.

He gagged and jerked back, his hands flying to cover his mouth as his stomach lurched.

_ Oh gods, no! No! Don’t barf, you idiot, don’t barf, don’t! _

Hermes peeled his sweat-shiny arm off his face, peeking down his heaving chest at Than with glazed-over eyes. “.... Just breathe, Angel. You’re okay. I told you to go slow….” His voice, still hungry and lust-filled, was quiet; Than sank back onto his haunches, pulling his fingers from his spit-slick face and trying to hold back the sudden tears.

“S-sorry….” His own voice was torn around the edges, and the word felt hollow in his mouth, strange-shaped somehow. He desperately wanted Hermes’ cock in his mouth again, but he’d only embarrass himself again.

Hermes sat up, and Than looked away, staring at the carved iron footings of a dresser along the wall. Too-warm fingers tapped his cheek,  _ asking _ for him to look at his boyfriend again; how could he say no?

Hermes’ fingers drifted past Than’s ear as he turned back to the vermilion god, a sweaty palm molding around his jaw. 

“Angel, if you want to keep going, I want you to. You were doing really great, but deep-throating is not something everyone can do, and it’s definitely not something you can do without careful practice. Honey, if you keep doing what you were doing before, I’ll come all over that pretty face in about two minutes….” Thanatos blushed, thick and hot. His wings shivered, and Hermes started picking at the buttons at Than’s throat. “Do you wanna make me come, sweetheart? Make me feel so good with your mouth that I just can’t hold back anymore?”

Thanatos nodded, and Hermes trailed a careful fingertip over the shifting knob in Than’s throat.

Hermes leaned back again, his spit-shining cock standing erect and twitching, and Thanatos moved in steadily, intent on his goal. His hands found their positions once more, and his lips met the leaking tip in a tender kiss before sliding open and down into place over the whole head. Hermes moaned, his hands combing through Than’s hair and stroking over his neck and shoulders; Than lifted his wings and pressed his tongue flush to the ridge along the underside of Hermes’ cock as he pushed down,  _ just _ enough but not too much. He curled the tip of his tongue as he dragged his mouth back upward, and Hermes seized a handful of hair and one of his shoulders in hard fingers with a hiss of desire. 

“ _ Fuck _ me, Angel; that’s incredible.”

Thanatos whimpered; the hands holding him tightly, possessively - that shouldn’t be pleasurable, but it was. His own cock throbbed, and he felt himself leaking a wet spot into his pants. He hummed and repeated his maneuvers, and shivered all over as he was rewarded with clenched hands and another ragged moan from his boyfriend. 

Than kept going, speeding up by increments, until Hermes’ near-constant moans suddenly cut off around a choked-sounding cry. The hand in Than’s hair pulled, hard, but Than hunched his shoulders and stayed where he was, locked onto Hermes’ cock by his lips and tongue and fingers.

He wanted to taste it….

Hermes exploded, hunching over Thanatos, his clenching abdominal muscles bumping the top of Than’s head. Salt and oil and sugar: it was like nothing else he’d ever tasted, so different from his own taste, and he loosened his jaw so he wouldn’t bite Hermes as he swallowed. 

A few trembling spasms later, Hermes loosened his grip on Than’s hair and leaned back. Than mirrored the move in reverse, letting his mouth slip off of Hermes’ still-hard cock and settling back onto his legs. He swiped across his mouth with his right hand, wiping the dregs of spit and cum onto his pants, and then met Hermes’ eyes.

His boyfriend was staring at him in awe, and Thanatos felt a wash of heat caress his entire body.

_ I did it…. _

* * *

**Hermes:**

It takes a few seconds for my brain to get working again, but once it does, all I can think about is making this sexy god come absolutely undone in return for that blowjob. I lean forward, pulling him toward me with my hands around his biceps, and he lets off another one of those too cute gasps that make me wanna fuck him silly. 

_ How _ did  _ I _ get so  _ lucky?!?! _

I settle Than straddling my lap and tear at the rest of the buttons on his shirt while I get my teeth around one of his perky little nipples. They’re a darker grey than the rest of his silvery skin, matte almost, but they’re softer than I’m used to on a guy. I don’t think he’s done that much with ‘em, but he certainly likes when I get ahold of ‘em. He arches against me (he’s so fucking sensitive!), and I tug the hem of his shirt free of the waistband of his pants. 

…. Trousers….

My hands steal around his back, finding the buttons under his wings. I shift my mouth to his other nipple, dragging my teeth over the skin between them on the way, and those gorgeous shining-starlight feathers spread up and away behind him as he bends against me, begging for more. I take advantage of the extra space and get those buttons undone, opening the panels and pulling back from him.

His hands rocket up, snagging the collar and shoulder seams of his shirt and whipping it up over his head. He tosses it away and starts grinding in a supple rolling motion against me, diving down to my mouth in a greedy kiss. His arms snake around my neck, locking me to him, and I give him what he wants….

For a little while. 

He’s still wearing too many clothes. 

I grab his waist and  _ lift _ ; his wings help me, he gasps, and then he’s on the floor in front of me. His pants - fuck, trousers, whatever! - are unbuttoned and unzipped and un-attached in seconds, and I’m spinning around him, bending him over the end of the bed with my hand in the center of his back, between and above his wing joints. He makes to crawl onto the bed, but I cup his hipbone and stop him. 

“No, Angel; got something else I wanna try. Stay right there, just like that.”

He whines, a soft sound of need, as I move to the cabinet on my side of the bed for the lube. I chuckle; my Angel is so needy. I watch him watching me as I walk back around the bed with the lube. His eyes are wide and shining and locked on my cock. 

“How are you still hard, Hermes?!!”

I bend over, bracing myself on my knees, as I burst out laughing. I wheeze, trying to catch my breath to answer my neon-blushing boyfriend.

“Well, stud, that’s just how your Applesauce is sometimes! I mean, it’s part of the whole fertility god thing….”

His mouth drops open, and the color drains from his face. Which is impressive, now that I see it: his silver skin goes grey, his cheeks darken to a hollow shade of coal, and I can definitely see how mortals could be scared of him like this….

“F-f-fert-fertility god?!” His knees tremble visibly, and I drop the lube to the corner of the bed and approach him slowly, my hands out, unsure if he’s gonna just collapse.

“Um, yeah, Than…. I mean, not much of one, I’m no Eros, but I’ve got a bit of it in me….”

The blush is creeping back into his cheeks, and his signature sheepish grin is sneaking over his lips. “Well, that explains it then….”

“Oh?” I can feel it: the mood’s not dead, we’re not done yet, and damn good thing, ‘cause I really wanted to get in that tight little ass again tonight.

“Yeah…. Um, I’m not usually this, um…. I mean, four times in two days is about three times too many for me, usually, but….”

My stomach drops. “Oh, Angel, do we need to call it a night?! I don’t wanna wear you out, I’m sorry, I - ”

He straightens from the bed, spinning and putting a finger over my lips. It shocks me to silence, and I can feel all my switches wanting to flip. But that quickly, the moment is gone: a shadow of hesitation clouds his eyes again, and he pulls his hand away, shoulders hunching and wings creeping around his body. 

“I, I just, um…. I’m not hurt, and I’m not worn out, I don’t think. I just, um, don’t usually do this much, or this often, but it feels good. I want to; I should have known, though.” He meets my gaze from under thick silver lashes before he whispers again. “I’m a thing of Life’s opposites; fertility powers always hit me harder. That’s why I belong to the Underworld, you know….”

I file that tidbit away; there’s a story there, I’m sure of it, but now is not the time. I step closer, halting his wings’ creeping progress, and we kiss again, hot and heavy as ever, before I turn him back around and bend him over the bed again. He goes willingly once more, and I snag the lube and get to work.

I compare the color and texture of his skin while I’m getting him slicked and loosened up, making sure he’s not irritated or hurt from all this we’ve been doing. No scrapes, no rougher patches: he’s just as perfect as he was yesterday….

_ How _ has it only been a day?!!?

He’s such a natural, relaxing quickly and enjoying every second. One finger, two, three - it only takes a few minutes. I can’t imagine I’ll ever get tired of this: he’s a rare creature, my Angel, and I’m the lucky god that gets to play with him all I like….

He’s moaning,  _ groaning _ even, and he’s more than ready for my cock. I slick up, tingling from belly to tip, and line up.

“Ready, Angel?”

He nods his head, shoulders bunching and wings trembling. 

_ Gods  _ **_damn_ ** _ , _ he’s incredible….

I press forward, the tight resistance easing open around my aching cock, and then gripping me so slick and hot and soft and right. It’s the easiest and hardest thing in the world to glide in slow and steady: easy because I just wanna enjoy it for as long as possible, hard because I just wanna be  _ in _ already….

Finally I’m there, and he’s panting and twitching every few breaths while he gets used to the feeling again. I lean over him, reaching around him and stroking over his chest and belly, basking happily in the warmth of him until I can feel him relaxing all around me, all through his body. 

Which is what I was waiting for. 

“Come here, stud; I want you to lean up for me.”

I pull him up to a standing position; he’s got his arms bent at the elbows, uncertain where to put his hands. I grab the right one and pull it back to my hip behind his. His left hand, I guide (and he’s getting the idea, so it’s barely a gesture on my part) to my hair. My lips nibble and peck around on the left side of his neck and shoulder, and I feel him start to sway. 

He chokes out a strangled gasp suddenly, and I feel the clench all through his body. His fingers claw me, above and below, and I hiss against his neck, just a bit, as the sting fades. I move my lips to his ear, whispering what he needs to hear.

“You’re okay, stud. I know it feels different, but it feels good, too, yeah?”

His voice is reedy, his chest heaving like forge-bellows between my arms: “Yeah, hot, ripplyyyyy….” He whines it out, and I chuckle quietly into his ear.

“Yeah, I know. I’ve got a bullseye on your prostate, Angel. I want you to relax, and just  _ feel _ , okay?”

I start rocking back and forth, slowly, and already the muscles in his core are responding beautifully, rippling waves and tiny tremors zinging through him in a perfect harmony to the chords I’m striking deep inside him. He shakes in my grip, and his knees half-buckle. He cries out, clutching at my neck and hip for balance.

“Her- _ mes _ !”

“I’ll catch you, Angel….”

He gasps, melting into my arms, and I thrust just a little faster, a little more decisively into that tight, warm body. His walls are quivering now, there’s no going back; it won’t take much….

I press my left hand over his heart, feeling the galloping thunder of his pulse, at the same time I wrap my right hand around his cock. He’s rock-hard, and his voice is a passing-bell of pleasure as he comes on the second stroke. 

I fuck him through it, slow and sure, and his walls milk my orgasm from me in return, sliding silk and gripping steel.

He’s shivering all over, and I’m panting into his neck; I hold him up, catch him as he comes back down, and he’s smiling as he half-turns in my arms to kiss me like it’s the only thing he needs in this world….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologize once again on behalf of mai bois if the section perspective shifts were too jarring or clunky. I swear, I and my beta gave this everything we had to lessen that insanity but it just would not budge. 
> 
> That said, I do need to thank my betafeeshy and First Mate of the Thanames, rissaleigh49, QUITE thoroughly for a wonderful late-night beta on this chapter. This chapter sat half-done for more than a month for lack of inspiration and workability, and then it all began to come together over the last couple of days, and much of that was due her thirsty enthusiasm. Forever and on, my rissa, I adores you. 
> 
> Some headspace notes - 
> 
> Yes, Hermes is a switch. And yes, in myths, he does skirt the verge of being a fertility god. In fact, many roadshine shrines dedicated to Hermes were decorated with carved phallic protrusions and images of rams and hares. Hermes could be said to be a fertility god with a very specific influence on MALE fertility aspects, whereas a creature like Eros is more a monarch over sexual love in the general sense. 
> 
> Additionally, Thanatos, as a Cthonic being with an influence over the literal opposite of Life/fertile power - that's part of his sensitivity to Hermes. It's a little much for him, but in all the best ways. 
> 
> It makes him feel *alive....* (Hadestown ref's for the win....)
> 
> Many dedicated fans of the Thanames have enjoyed this particular aspect of Hermes and Thanatos and their interactions - especially when we correlate this with Hades and Persephone. Just some food for thought there....
> 
> Regarding the bit about "ouzo and water" - ouzo is an anise-flavored liquor, and is sometimes served mixed with water, which literally turns the solution a milky white? which was damn cool and just *worked* for my muses, so here we are....
> 
> Thank you, dear readers and fans and crewmates of the Thanames, for sticking out the long waiting periods. I hope this near 6k word update sates your thirst, until the next time.
> 
> Much love in the darkness!
> 
> -Swoonie and the boi-love-lovin muses in her headspace  
> 14 November 2020 (about 1:15 am central time)


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